Novak Djokovic came close to crashing out of the French Open on Thursday–but not because of anything quarterfinal opponent Tomas Berdych did.
After failing to convert a break point at 1-0 in the third set, Djokovic flung his racket behind him in the direction of a linesman. Had the linesman failed to move out of the way, the racket certainly would have crashed right into him–possibly resulting in a disqualification of the world No. 1.
— The Grandstand (@TennGrand) June 2, 2016
Apparently the original Djokovic racket toss tweet video was deleted, but some bootlegging recovered it. #RG16 pic.twitter.com/JVirYWICrw
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) June 2, 2016
“I threw a racket on the ground and it slipped and almost hit the line umpire,” Djokovic commented. “I was lucky there. That’s all.”
“I mean, if he would (have) hit the [linesman], it would be over,” Berdych added. “If not, then it’s just a broken racket. That’s it. Simple warning. Simple as that.”
It ended up being nothing more than a close call–not even a broken racket, as Berdych suggested–and Djokovic eventually finished off the eighth-ranked Czech 6-3, 7-5, 6-3. The top-seeded Serb will face Dominic Thiem during semifinal action on Friday.
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Dang the other players must be mad at that linesman for moving haha. That would’ve been such a colossal fail if Djokovic had hit the linesman and been disqualified and lost the chance for the French open title with an amazing draw to the final. Phew. I want to see Nole lose to Thiem or to Stan if they play in the final but I would’ve been bummed for Novak if that had happened. Would’ve been huge and not in a good way. People would’ve been talking about that forever lol. Anyways I hope Thiem takes him down. That would be epic. The final I really don’t want to see is Djoker vs Murray. Other than that I could go for any of the other three possibilities. Ah heck what am I saying. I may be rooting for Thiem but seeing Stan beat Novak again would be my most preferred final.
nothing of the above is happening. more luck next year.
Thiem in 3.
“Had the linesman failed to move out of the way, the racket certainly would have crashed right into him–possibly resulting in a disqualification of the world No. 1.”
Well I just hope that you don’t compare “possibly” with “probably”.
Don’t you?
Or do you.