On September 6, 2020, Novak Djokovic hit the headlines for accidentally hitting the line judge during the US Open. Djokovic, who was world number 1 then, looked frustrated during the fourth-round game
against Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta. Djokovic reached the fourth round after defeating Damir Dzumhur, Kyle Steven Edmund, and Jan-Lennard Struff. In those three contests, he won two with a comfortable margin but against Busta, he saw himself trailing by 5-6. His struggle riled him up and he threw the ball behind, towards the baseline where the female line judge was standing.
The judge got wounded severely and a lengthy discussion took place among tournament officials. Eventually, Djokovic was disqualified from the competition and with this development, his unbeaten 26-0 2020 season and his 29-match winning streak ended. Djokovic was the first player to be defaulted in Grand Slams after 2000. In the French Open 2000, Stefan Koubek got evicted from the tournament in the same style. Djokovic’s ouster also meant that it was the first instance after 2004 that the big three (Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer) won’t feature in the Grand Slam semi-finals. Nadal didn’t participate in the tournament due COVID-19 concerns while Roger Federer remained absent due to his knee injury.
Dominic Thiem won the US Open 2020
In the absence of the three iconic figures, Austria’s Dominic Thiem emerged victorious after beating Germany’s Alexander Zverev in the final. It was a hard-fought win for the Austrian as he made a comeback after losing the first two sets against his German counterpart. It was his maiden Grand Slam title of his career after four appearances in the final.
Following the Djokovic incident, the US Tennis Association announced that it won’t require the services of line judges. They announced that Hawk-Eye Live electronic line-calling would be used for all competition courts at the US Open in 2021.
