World No. 1 Novak Djokovic will take on the talented Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta for a spot in the U.S. Open quarterfinals.
Novak Djokovic isn’t just the favorite to win the U.S. Open, he’s the prohibitive favorite. The Serb hasn’t lost a match yet in the abbreviated 2020 season, with the Australian Open crown and his second Cincinnati Masters title just a week ago. He has only dropped a single set en route to the round of 16 this week, snagged by Kyle Edmund in the second round.
His fourth round opponent is a familiar foe. Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta has faced Djokovic 3 other times, and lost every set so far but one. The matchup has not been kind. Carreno Busta is no slouch on hard courts. The Spaniard was a 2017 semifinalist in Indian Wells and New York, and a 2018 semifinalist in Miami.
The Spaniard had a poor first tournament back in Cincinnati last week. He was picked off in the second round by the Russian Karen Khachanov, where he ate a second set breadstick. He survived a first round scare at the U.S. Open, where he went 5 sets with Japan’s Yasutaka Uchiyama. Since then though, he seems to have righted the ship.
Given Djokovic’s form and the fact that he does everything PCB can do, but more consistently, it would take a pretty bad day at the office for the Serb to find himself out of the tournament at this stage. Carreno Busta is a fighter, so it wouldn’t be a complete surprise if the Spaniard grabbed a set, but there is little doubt which player will be saluting the non-existent crowd.
Cheryl pick – Djokovic in 3
Joker in 3….he just doesn’t have any bad days at the office!!
Yep. He doesn’t.
Not today!!! He is out for bad behaviour because he was having exactly that, a bad day at the office!! A very bad day!! Lol!!!
Come on get on with it.. a mountain being made of a molehill
Wtf!!!! A roger would never have had this happen to him.. that was about the only way djoko was losing
Roger hit a ball into the stands in anger during his RG semi last year. Luckily no one was injured.
what happened?
Djoko threw away a grand slamđł omfg!! What just happened.. i would hate to be a djoko fan in these circumstances
Wow! Djoko gets a hard court slam stolen from him..!!! Knowing him he will be a beast the rest of the year.. still in utter disbelief
I just heard Nole defaulted!! What the hell.happened??
apparently he ‘hit a ball in anger that hit a lineswoman’.
https://twitter.com/avarwallace/status/1302702899764621312?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
Yes I read it hit her in the throat.
So who the hell.is going to win the uso now? Bugs Bunny?
There are so many other good tennis players left quite deserving of the trophy!! Such as Theim and Daniil!!! Vamos Theim!!
David Nalbandian at Queens, that was pretty bad.
This was this most ridiculous thing I have seen in sport. Are you kidding me! Have some common sense people. Ruining tennis because you think you are following the rules. Give the woman an Oscar and everyone go home. **** tennis
Nole hit a ball at the lines person.. not intentionally and he has been defaulted.. to be fair the ball seemed to have hit the throat which may be a sensitive spot.. but a world no.1 being defaulted is dramatic! Just imagine if there was a raucous crowd toođ˛đ˛đ˛ beats the nadals and federers of the world on the biggest stages… gets dumped out thanks to his tantrumsđ¤Śđťââď¸đ¤Śđťââď¸
Happened to Henman at his home slam wimby.
Don’t think anyone can call it a fix!
He can concentrate on clay now…
And just look at the timing.. no people in the crowd.. he could have launch one into the crowd ala Roger and with luck it may have hit a racoon.. but this djoko is so perfect he hits his mark even he does not want tođ¤Śđťââď¸ A victim of murphy
With Rafa skipping and nole defaulted this USO will definitely have an asterisk next to it.
But he took it on his chin and was zen in his exit.. goran may be feeling the brunt
I was feeling sorry for Djoko. So, he missed 3 consecutive set points having 40-0 on Carreno’s serve. Then he slip and heart his shoulders, then he was broken and the Spaniard would have served for the set. This is when he gets a bit annoyed a throws a random ball from his pocket, just not being careful. The sound made by the woman hit was quite scary. It looked very serious. It was unintentional, but even that has a limit.
We shouldn’t say they stole a slam to him. Busta was supposed to serve to close first set at 7-5. Who knows what would’ve happen. But yeah, I felt sorry for him. He didn’t deserve this I believe. This is very subjective from me, I know the rules have to be respected.
This is what you call a bad day at the office. Carreno was so good to produce 6 points in a row and turn Dioko’s emotions 180 degrees. I guess he was tired phisically and mentally.
I thought they just discuss and apologize, and was shocked to find out he was defaulted.
Djokovic defaulted for hitting a line judge with a ball in frustration.
Oh boy, didnt see that one coming, an oppotunity missed, Novak will be kicking himself , USO now wide open, brand new champion ,my money would be on last years beaten finalist Danil Medvedev ….
who is your pick on the women’s side Alison?
Similar thing happened a few years ago to Shapovalov in a Davis Cup match in Canada. He hit a ball in frustration and it hit the umpire in the face or eye (can’t remember which). Shapovalov got disqualified as well. Djokovic fans may be upset but it is the right call. No one should be above the rules.
Exactly!! It could have been a lot worse!!
Soon they will be asking ball persons and umpires to wear protective gear!!!
Eye socket. Poor guy needed surgery afterwards.
Shapovalov is lucky that he wasn’t sued!!
Honestly, don’t feel bad for Novak!
Med v Thiem would make an interesting final at least, since both have been slam finalists. Normally I’d be for Thiem but he hasn’t been earning himself any points with me lately…
Bet Tsitsipas is *really* kicking himself now!
They can only meet in the SF as they’re in the same half of the draw.
Still in utter disbelief.. at the wimbledon final with the whole stadium against him playing a demi god and him being up and down he remained calm and pulled through.. in an empty stadium against PCB he loses his cool after going down a breakđ¤Śđťââď¸đ¤Śđťââď¸
Interesting comparison. It’s often harder to control your emotions when you’re highly confident you should win than when you think it’s pretty much 50-50. But I think it was a fair application of the rule, which has to be strict to be effective.
I’d much rather be Novak than Stefan Edberg, whose unintentional shot caused an umpire to fall out his chair and literally die.
Djokovic loses his cool playing against Rafa at RG where he shouldn’t be confident he would win. He even smashed up the Perrier bench against Raga there. I was surprised he was disqualifies then; they simply replaced the bench.
Guest i think Serenas hell bent on tying Margaret Court, id love to see Kvitova making a good run, although HCs arent really her best surface, Azarenkas playing well again, and could be a dark horse, and you ?
Alison my dark horse was Brady from the start, well a long shot i know đ
But she’s made the quarters at least anyway, so it’s turning out to be a good tournament for her.
Welp. I guess this qualifies as a bad day at the office. I feel really terrible for all involved, but the rules are clear and non-negotiable. I don’t think the officials had any discretion in the matter.
Agreed. He didn’t mean to do it and virtually every tennis player loses his temper when things get difficult (ok, Rafa does not!) but he hurt someone, a linesperson in this case, and that’s a no-no. For that, you’re out on your ear. Frankly I think the rules should be a whole lot stiffer – you shouldn’t be able to get away with dangerous actions period, and we’d see less of this nonsense.
So this is what it takes to get a New Grand Slam men’s champion. Sigh.
I don’t like Djokovic – I’d have been happy to see him lose – but not like this! đ This sucks! I’m disgusted and I’m gonna give this slam a whole row of ***********************************************************************
And it’s only the 4th round! What next?
Im sorry, i will not place any asterisks next to this USO open because who ever wins it would have won it fair and square. Novak already had shoulder issues coming into the tourney, there is no guarantee that he would have won it!! WE keep annointing the players as winners before the toruney even starts, and in tennis there is always surprises!!
In a way its a good lesson for Novak and the rest of the players. Racket and ball abuse is not cool!! Its only a game, grow up!!! I hope the lady recovers from her injury. Who knows, Novak may well be facing a law suit if her injury is found to be more serious, after all, this is America!!
Agreed
Nalbandian at Queens was defaulted
And one other thing, Novak wasn’t wearing a mask during that long exchange at the net with the referee .
What a joke this sport has become. People need to have some common sense. You donât mindlessly follow stupid rules and the rules say the referee has discretion
Quite unfortunate? yes. Shocking? yes. But, the rules are clear here and it was surprising the officials kept discussing it with the player for 10 minutes or so.
On a related note ,check the below video clip. Karma?
https://twitter.com/tennis_joker/status/1302705523402444801
Umm why wasnât Serena dqâd at USO? When she wanted to shove a ball down the lineswomanâs throat?
Serena was given a point penalty which meant Clijsters won the match as it was match point. In Serena’s case, it was verbal abuse.
Henman was defaulted at Wimbledon in a doubles match for doing the same thing and hitting a ball girl and Shapovalov was defaulted from DC for hitting the ball in anger which accidentally hit the umpire in the eye. Nalbandian was defaulted at Queens for kicking the hoarding around a line judge’s leg in frustration causing injury to the line judge.
Djoko is spot on in that interview Btw