LONDON: The 23-time Grand Slam winner, Novak Djokovic was hit with a hefty fine for smashing his racquet against the net post during the Wimbledon final against Carlos Alcaraz.
The incident happened in the fifth set of his defeat to the 20-year-old Spaniard on Sunday when Djokovic failed to break Alcaraz’s serve and subsequently lost his own service game and expressed his frustration by forcefully smashing his racket against one of the wooden net poles, leaving the dent on it.
Umpire Fergus Murphy promptly issued Djokovic a warning for a code violation due to his racket-smashing transgression.
As a result of his actions, the fine of £6,117 was issued to the seven-time Wimbledon champion and the money will be deducted from his runner-up cheque of 1.175 million pounds.
World number one Alcaraz took full advantage of the break to seal a 1-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-1 3-6 6-4 victory after four hours and 42 minutes.
The 20-year-old’s victory at the All England Club denied Djokovic a 24th grand slam title and also ended his unbeaten run at the Centre Court.
In Sunday’s final, Djokovic was twice handed a code violation. The first code violation came after the shot clock ran down to zero before Djokovic hit his service. The second came after he fell down by a break in the fifth set and violently destroyed his racket.
After the match, when Djokovic was asked about his two code violations he said “there’s no much to talk about that. Second one (his second code violation) was frustration. I had break points in the second game. Yeah, just tough, tough couple of points.”
The Serbian great was infamously disqualified from the 2020 US Open when he hit a ball out of frustration during his round of 16 clash, with the ball accidentally hitting a line judge in the throat. IANS
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