COMMENT:

Novak had to be defaulted. No argument at all with the decision taken by the umpire concerned and the US Open tournament referee.

The rules are the rules and they're in place for a reason - to prevent these spoilt brats from behaving exactly like this. And that's what they are because that's what the  sport encourages them to be.

Tennis is the most over-indulgent  sport in the world. By molly-coddling its players and treating them  like they're some sort of royalty they've created a culture of temper tantrums, angry outbursts that most times the sport is happy to indulge.

But not this time. Not this time because the ball he thwacked smacked into a lineswoman. A few games earlier he whacked one into the courtside advertising hoardings, that one fortunately not hitting anyone, so this was a cumulation of frustration on his part. And no he never intended to hit the woman, that part clearly and obviously accidental - but, and no pun intended, that's not the point. The rules around this are very clear: "Intentionally hitting a ball dangerously or recklessly within the court or hitting a ball with negligent disregard of the consequences" equals automatic default.

But this is a sport that celebrates Nick Krygios tanking matches and abusing officials because he generates Instagram likes. A sport that refused to adequately punish Serena Williams for her disgraceful sourpuss antics at the umpire when losing the 2018 final. If anyone deserved a lengthy ban for her behaviour it was the queen of the court but instead, again, her outbursts were excused and indulged.

Novak's on court response to his own actions was to say "she doesn't have to go to the hospital for this, you're choosing a default..when it's my career, grand slam, centre stage". Do you see what I mean? Even after he's hit the woman his immediate thinking was about him and his career rather than any accepting of the consequences, of which he knew all too well, of his own actions.

High time these brats fetched their own towels, held their own sun umbrellas, unscrewed their own water bottles and re-learned that to play professional sport for a living is a privilege and not a right. Djokovic deserved what he got - even if the lineswoman did milk it like Neymar!