Novak Djokovic’s fractious week in Rome continued with another on-court showdown.
Having received a time-violation warning from chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani, the world No 1 responded by accusing the Swede of behaving more like a thespian than a tennis official.
The outburst came 24 hours after Djokovic’s feisty run-in with British No 1 Cameron Norrie, and shortly before he was eliminated from the Italian Open by Denmark’s Holger Rune.
“What’s the drama of you waiting between Eng-lish and Italian?” yelled Djokovic, who had just been warned for exceeding the allotted 25-second period between points. “Are you acting here or what? Why do you call the score for 20 seconds?”
The outburst drew knowing nods from tennis fans on social media. While Lahyani is generally rated among the best umpires on the tour, he is also notorious for the flamboyant – and extremely loud – manner in which he announces the score.
This might seem like an obscure detail, but offi-ciating guidelines state that an umpire should start the 25-second shot clock immediately after announcing the score.
Lahyani was using Italian first, and then English, but the drama surrounding the whole performance made it difficult for Djokovic to judge exactly how much time he had left.
At least the players maintained a spirit of mutual respect throughout, in contrast to Djokovic’s stormy encounter with Norrie on Tuesday. After that match, he had accused the British No 1 – who struck him on the left leg with a full-blooded smash – of “not fair play”.—AFP
