Novak Djokovic has been dismissive of concerns about his temper in the past, but that side of the world’s top tennis player was on display once again at the Australian Open on Tuesday.
Djokovic advanced to the semifinal with a win over Alex Zverev, but not before he had a meltdown and smashed his racket. The outburst came after he failed to return a serve during the fifth game of the third set. You can see the video below:
Every angle of Novak Djokovic completely destroying his racquet which left the court damaged.
WATCH: @Channel9
STREAM: https://t.co/7uAf53PWTv #9WWOS #AusOpen #AO2021 pic.twitter.com/hn5irHYwS0— Wide World of Sports (@wwos) February 16, 2021
Djokovic was given a code violation for the act. The match was paused briefly while he went over to his bag to get another racket. As you can see in the video above, he left some scratches and scuff marks on the court.
While he’s not the first player to destroy a racket in anger, Djokovic can expect to face plenty of criticism. The 33-year-old was infamously disqualified from the US Open last year after he hit a ball in frustration and it inadvertently struck a line judge. You can see the video here.
Djokovic said after the US Open incident that he learned a big lesson and would work on controlling his emotions.
