Novak Djokovic nearly got himself defaulted at a slam for the second time in his career after a moment of madness at the Australian Open.
Djokovic appeared in control of his third-round match against Botic van de Zandschulp but blasted a ball right at a ballgirl.
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The No.4 seed, who was defaulted for hitting a line judge with a ball at the 2020 US Open, came just centimetres away from hitting the crouching ballgirl at the side of the net.
He apologised and was stared down by Aussie chair umpire John Blom for the bad behaviour.
Much like Djokovic was lucky not to hit the ballgirl on Saturday night, he was unlucky to hit a line judge during his fourth-round match with Pablo Carreno Busta at the 2020 US Open.
The grand slam rulebook states “players shall not violently, dangerously or with anger hit, kick or throw a tennis ball within the precincts of the tournament site except in the reasonable pursuit of a point during a match (including warm-up).
“For the purposes of this Rule, abuse of balls is defined as intentionally hitting a ball out of the enclosure of the court, hitting a ball dangerously or recklessly within the court or hitting a ball with negligent disregard of the consequences.”
Djokovic has won the Australian Open 10 times and is seeking to extend his own record of 24 grand slam titles.
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