Djokovic, McEnroe, Shapovalov, Nalbandian - costly dropouts on the tennis court
Novak Djokovic's disqualification at the 2020 US Open is not the first in the history of tennis. But one with grosser sporting consequences for the current world number one.
by tennisnet.com
last edit:
Sep 09, 2020, 07:17 am
The ways to a disqualification may have been different, but with his slip on Sunday in New York City, Novak Djokovic joins the guild of players with John McEnroe, David Nalbandian and Denis Shapovalov who are defeated by the field officials because of their behavior were referred.
John McEnroe had little fun with opponent Mikael Pernfors at the Australian Open in 1990, and the circumstances did not suit the American when he only participated in the Grand Slam tournament in Melbourne for the second time. And so McEnroe worked his way from a warning for intimidating one linesman to the next for throwing his stick to the third because he had insulted the referees including the supervisor. And Mac was gone.
In 1995 Tim Henman was caught at Wimbledon, who accidentally shot a ball girl after a failed volley in doubles at Jeremy Bates' side. Which was amazing in that Henman was considered a great gentleman on the pitch. And that was in the same double Jeff Tarango, the greatest bad boy of the time. Tarango lived up to this reputation only a few days after Henman's disqualification: The American referee Bruno Rebeuh insulted him as "corrupt" and left the pitch. Which brought Tarango not only an exclusion for the current tournament, but also for the coming year at Wimbledon.
David Nalbandian let out his displeasure about a missed return on a billboard in the finals of the London lawn tournament in the Queen's Club. Unfortunately, it was neither particularly stable nor particularly high. In addition, a linesman was sitting just behind, whose shin was damaged by Nalbandian's kick. Marin Cilic would certainly have preferred to win in a sporty way.
Denis Shapovalov's disqualification in the Davis Cup match against Kyle Edmund in 2017 had certain similarities with Djokovic's. Like the Serb, Shapovalov had just lost his serve and fired a ball into the supposed pampas. On the way there, however, the bullet landed in the face of the chair umpire.
And now Novak Djokovic, who, in contrast to McEnroe and Nalbandian, is just as unlikely to be premeditated as Shapovalov. The consequence was the cancellation of the match at the US Open 2020. And with it the end of Djokovic's path to his 18th major title.