Novak Djokovic, a highly decorated tennis player with 23 Grand Slam titles to his name, has been hit with a substantial fine for his display of anger during the Wimbledon final against Carlos Alcaraz. In the fifth set of the match, Djokovic, unable to break Alcaraz’s serve, lost his own service game and reacted by forcefully smashing his racquet against one of the wooden net poles, causing a visible dent. Umpire Fergus Murphy wasted no time in issuing Djokovic a warning for breaking the code of conduct.
Consequently, the seven-time Wimbledon champion will have £6,117 deducted from his runner-up prize money of £1.175 million as a result of the fine. Alcaraz, the world number one, seized the opportunity presented by Djokovic’s frustration and ultimately claimed a hard-fought victory after an intense four hours and 42 minutes, with the final score standing at 1-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4.
The defeat not only denied Djokovic his 24th Grand Slam title but also put an end to his unbeaten streak at the Centre Court of the All England Club.
During the final, Djokovic received two code violations. The first violation was issued when he exceeded the shot clock and failed to hit his serve in time.
When asked about the two code violations, Djokovic simply stated, “There’s not much to talk about that. The second one was frustration. I had break points in the second game. Yeah, just tough, tough couple of points.”
It is worth mentioning that Djokovic was disqualified from the 2020 US Open during the round-of-16 match after angrily hitting a ball that accidentally hit a line judge in the throat, leading to his immediate elimination from the tournament.