Djokovic Disqualified from U.S. Open after Hitting Line Judge

Novak Djokovic the no. 1 men's tennis player was disqualified from the US Open tennis tournament, after he angrily struck a female lines official in the neck with a ball during his match against Pablo Carreño Busta.

The world number one went 5-6 down in the first set to Spain's Busta when he pulled a ball out of his pocket after losing his serve and hit it in disgust in the direction of the official.

After a lengthy discussion with officials near the net involving chair umpire Aurelie Tourte, tournament referee Soeren Friemel and Grand Slam supervisor Andreas Egli, Djokovic appeared to be pleading his case. Eventually, he walked over to shake hands with Busta.

Tourte then announced that Djokovic was "defaulted", which is the tennis equivalent of an ejection.

Djokovic then left the tournament grounds without speaking to the media.

Later, in an Instagram post he apologized to the line judge, saying he didn't intend to hit her and that he is going to "turn all this into a lesson for my growth and evolution as a player and human being."

The U.S. Tennis Association released a statement afterwards saying that Djokovic was defaulted for hitting a ball "dangerously" and "recklessly" on the court. He will lose any ranking points and prize money gained from the tournament.

It is worth mentioning that the Grand Slam rules bar players from the abuse of balls as well as unsportsmanlike conduct, and tournament officials have the authority to disqualify a player immediately if they deem a case sufficiently serious.

Players can be defaulted for “hitting a ball or throwing a racket without intent to harm” if someone is injured on the court, said Gayle David Bradshaw, a retired ATP Tour vice president for rules and competition. “In this case, there was no intent, but there was harm, and the officials had no choice but to do what they did,” he added.