Novak Djokovic was struck within the head with a water bottle following his first-round match on the Italian Open.
The tennis phenom, 36, took to the stands after defeating French participant Corentin Moutet 6-3, 6-1 on Friday, Might 10. Per social media footage shared by way of X, Djokovic was hit within the head as he approached followers to signal autographs, inflicting him to fall to the bottom in ache.
Safety on the occasion, which is held at Foro Italico in Rome, Italy, rapidly ran to Djokovic’s help earlier than ushering him again into the constructing.
Following the incident, match organizers launched a press release sharing that the athlete “underwent acceptable medicine and has already left the Foro Italico to return to his resort” and famous that “his situation is just not a trigger for concern.”
“We’re very upset about what occurred, and we are attempting to determine who it was and perceive the dynamics,” Tennis Federation spokesman Alessandro Catapano mentioned in a press release, per Fox Information. “The police got here and requested for info, however the one that did it had already left. We’re going by way of the entire video and digicam angles to see if we will decide what precisely occurred.”
Hours later, an alternate angle of the second was posted to X, revealing that the water bottle had fallen from above Djokovic unintentionally after it slid out of a fan’s backpack.
Friday’s match marked Djokovic’s first of the match, the place he sits because the No. 1 seed. His subsequent match will probably be in opposition to Twenty ninth-seeded Alejandro Tabilo on Sunday, Might 12. Later this month, he’ll try to defend his title on the French Open which kicks off on Might 26.
This isn’t the primary time an unintentional harm has occurred on one in all Djokovic’s courts. Throughout the US Open in September 2020, the participant inadvertently hit a lineswoman with a tennis ball and was subsequently disqualified throughout a fourth-round match in opposition to Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta.
Novak Djokovic bought hit within the head with a bottle by somebody within the crowd and fell and is bleeding.
Surprising lack of safety by the Rome match.
Somebody shield this man.pic.twitter.com/fGnVrYpb4h
— Danny 🐊 (@DjokovicFan_) Might 10, 2024
Throughout the match, Djokovic appeared pissed off after being down 5-6 within the first set and showing to endure a shoulder harm. As he walked off to the sideline for a changeover, he took a ball out of his pocket and his it behind him, placing the girl.
Djokovic was then approached by match referee Soeren Friemel and Grand Slam supervisor Andreas Egli who spoke on the courtroom for greater than 5 minutes earlier than in the end deciding to disqualify Djokovic from each the match and the match.
“In accordance with the Grand Slam rulebook, following his actions of deliberately hitting a ball dangerously or recklessly inside the courtroom or hitting a ball with negligent disregard of the results, the US. Open match referee defaulted Novak Djokovic from the 2020 US Open,” the United Acknowledged Tennis Affiliation mentioned in a press release on the time. “As a result of he was defaulted, Djokovic will lose all rating factors earned on the US Open and will probably be fined the prize cash received on the match along with all or any fines levied with respect to the offending incident.”
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Djokovic later addressed the incident by way of Instagram, writing, “This entire state of affairs has left me actually unhappy and empty. I checked on the traces individual and the match instructed me that thank God she is feeling okay. I’m extraordinarily sorry to have brought about her such stress. So unintended. So mistaken. I’m not disclosing her identify to respect her privateness.”
He continued, “As for the disqualification, I want to return inside and work on my disappointment and switch this all right into a lesson for my development and evolution as a participant and human being. I apologize to the @usopen match and everybody related for my habits. I’m very grateful to my crew and household for being my rock assist, and my followers for all the time being there with me. Thanks and I’m so sorry.”
