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Novak Djokovic was disqualified earlier this week from the US Open after accidentally (was it accidental?) hitting a line judge after carelessly hitting the ball with his racket. He was presumably kind of tossing it away in disgust and frustration, and it wound up hitting the line judge. Djokovic did not seem to mean to hit her, and he appeared legitimately sorry immediately, after he saw what he did.
Nevertheless, the United States Tennis Association decided to disqualify him from the entire tournament, so that he not only lost that match officially, but he also lost any and all points and prize money that he had earned up to that point.
In a statement justifying their actions, the United States Tennis Association stated that the disqualification of Djokovic was for “hitting a ball with negligent disregard for the consequences.”
Yet, others have been penalized significantly less for similar things. Indeed, many critics pointed out that this punishment did not really match the supposed crime.
But this begs the question of how the US Open might have handled things differently if it had been another star. Say, Rafael Nadal. Or Roger Federer.
In fact, we know that there was indeed a remarkably different response when a similar incident occurred involving the great Roger Federer. This was years ago, and at the Australian Open, not the US Open. Perhaps part of the reason for the greater leniency was there are not as many frivolous lawsuits in Australia as there are in the United States.
Everyone laughed that incident off, even though, in fact, it was a similar incident. Federer actually had hit the ball behind his back, which it could be argued, is even more negligent than Djokovic's hit was. But many feel that since it was Federer, the incident was handled remarkably differently. Would it have been different if the ball boy had not laughed, but instead writhed in agony?
Perhaps. We might never know.
One thing seems certain, though: there appears to be very different standards for different players, even for similar offenses. This is something that is not just seen in tennis, but in other sports, as well. But we are talking about tennis right now, since this incident just happened.
Below are some links to articles where this debate is taken up, including the seemingly hypocritical leniency shown to Federer after the ball boy incident, versus the rather draconian measures imposed on Djokovic, especially by way of comparison. Take a look, because these were some interesting reads, and the authors made some very intriguing points.
US Open: 'Roger Federer wouldn't have been disqualified like Novak Djokovic was' By Ryan Smart 10:15 09/09/20
https://www.givemesport.com/1598292-us-open-roger-federer-wouldnt-have-been-disqualified-like-novak-djokovic-was?utm_source=carousel&utm_medium=internal
US Open: Roger Federer wasn't disqualified like Novak Djokovic when he hit a ball boy By Joe Sandom 12:50 07/09/20
https://www.givemesport.com/1597781-us-open-roger-federer-wasnt-disqualified-like-novak-djokovic-when-he-hit-a-ball-boy
US Open: Match referee reveals exactly what Novak Djokovic said to avoid disqualification By Ryan Smart 11:35 09/09/20 share on Facebook share on Twitter share on WhatsApp share on Linkedin share on Flipboard:
https://www.givemesport.com/1598366-us-open-match-referee-reveals-exactly-what-novak-djokovic-said-to-avoid-disqualification?utm_source=carousel&utm_medium=internal
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