NEW YORK — Down a set in the U.S. Open final to Daniil Medvedev, Novak Djokovic smashed a racquet in frustration at 2-1 in the second set when he missed an opportunity to get a service break.
Djokovic, who had failed to convert three break points in Medvedev’s first game of the second set, got another one in the second to potentially turn the momentum of the match. But after Medvedev missed his first serve, music on the arena speaker system began playing as Medvedev went into his motion for the second serve and the chair umpire called a let.
Medvedev won the point with a drop shot that Djokovic nearly tracked down but dumped into the tape, cocking his racquet back as if he wanted to blast the ball out of the building. He held up just in time as one of the ball girls was running at him to retrieve it.
On the next point Medvedev hammered a 124 mph serve out wide that Djokovic could not make clean contact with.
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Djokovic’s temper has gotten him in trouble at the U.S. Open before. Last year, he smacked a ball in frustration during his fourth-round match against Pablo Carreno Busta that ended up hitting a linesperson in the throat. Djokovic was automatically defaulted from the match per the tournament rules.
At that point, his emotions boiled over and he hammered away at the court, destroying his racquet and drawing a code violation warning. Medvedev went on to hold serve and then broke a still steaming Djokovic in the next game for a 3-2 lead.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Novak Djokovic loses temper in US Open men’s final, smashes racquet