Novak Djokovic Rants With Chair Umpire – “Don’t Play These Games With Me”

Published 10/02/2019, 9:49 AM EDT

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via Imago

World Number one, Novak Djokovic won over the home favorite Go Soeda at Rakuten Japan Open 2019 on Wednesday, but during the match, he lost his temper and fumed at the chair umpire.

The Japanese player was serving to stay in the match at 6-3, 5-4 and in that game, Novak Djokovic was annoyed with the officials when Soeda won the point in the longest rally of the match. Djokovic perceived the shot from the Japanese was out and the Serb professed about hearing an “out” call from the line judge and hence he did not challenge.

“I challenged the call. Don’t play these games with me. It is like this out (signals with fingers). I heard a noise and she said out. She didn’t show it but she said out,” Djokovic hurled with the chair umpire on the court.

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The chair umpire called the boy kid standing beside Djokovic and asked, “Don’t be afraid, did you make any noise?” Then the umpire continued, “I will allow the challenge.”

Thereafter, the chair umpire allowed a challenge and the World Number one, Novak Djokovic was correct as the challenge proved that the ball about actually placed outside.

via Imago

In the post-match press conference, Novak Djokovic revealed ‘one of his greatest wishes.’ From his illustrious tennis career and hoard of 75 ATP Tour singles titles which includes 16 Grand Slams, an Olympic gold medal is missing. The Serb is looking forward to fulfilling that reverie at the Tokyo Olympics 2020.

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“It definitely is one of the greatest wishes, if I can say so, the gold in the next season and the rest of my career,” he said. “Hopefully I can get at least a step further in Tokyo. I still feel young in my body and my spirit as well. I still feel motivated to do great things on the court.”

The venue for the Tokyo Olympics 2020 will be Ariake Tennis Forest Park, the same place where the Japan Open 2019 is taking place. The tennis events of the quadrennial contest of sports will be conducted on hard-courts.

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Highlight from the match

On Wednesday, the Serbian won 6-3, 7-5 against the Japanese, Soeda and the top-seed, Djokovic will next set up a clash with the fifth seed, Lucas Pouille in the quarterfinals of the Rakuten Japan Open 2019.

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Mahalakshmi Murali

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Mahalakshmi Murali joined EssentiallySports in 2018 as a tennis author and has gone on to pen more than 1800 engaging articles, probing into various aspects of the sport and its illustrious players. With her expertise on the sport, Mahalakshmi has interviewed stalwarts from the sport such as Serena WIlliams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou and Kevin Anderson’s physio, Carlos Costa. Equipped with her vast experience and a keen understanding of the sport, Mahalakshmi now co-heads the tennis department.
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