Novak Djokovic is considered widely as the new ‘GOAT’ of tennis, as he breaks one record after another in every tournament he plays. However, he is never far away from any controversy on or off the court. In the Wimbledon 2023 semifinal on Friday, the 23-time Grand Slam champion was at it again in the second set against Jannik Sinner.
The chair umpire, Richard Haigh accused Djokovic of ‘hindrance’, a rare occurrence in which a player is believed to be deliberately distracting his opponent by producing some sort of noise. In this case, it was a clear, loud grunt. However, many who were watching the game, claimed that Djokovic was ridiculously pulled up for the same since the grunt apparently came after he attempted to hit a backhand winner down the line, not before.
Novak Djokovic gains huge support after controversial hindrance call
As soon as the decision was made, Djokovic was furious with the umpire, arguing that he had rightfully won the point. However, the argument was of no use as the former World No.1 had to concede the point, being 3-2 up in the second set. Incidentally, it was in the same game that the umpire warned Djokovic of a time violation, which might have triggered an extremely emotional reaction from the superstar player.
‘When u look at Djokovic’s response to me this just emphasises how good Djokovic is dealing with adversity, the confrontation it almost focuses his mind even more if that’s possible’
Tim Henman on Novak Djokovic
— Reggie🐺🐊 (@Reggie61823972) July 14, 2023
Former British player and now pundit, Tim Henman was amazed like many in the tennis community as to how Novak Djokovic manages to always bring the best out of himself in such unfavourable situations. There is a strong belief that sometimes Djokovic hopes for such situations to occur to spur him on. Regardless, Djokovic found tremendous support on social media and here are some reactions to that hindrance call –
That’s basically confirmed grand slam number 24 as Novak will be fuming, you’d think they’d know better
— Boot (@jimmy24428) July 14, 2023
Terrible umpire
— Ana (@_anatc0) July 14, 2023
Good thing Nadal isn’t playing because the way he grunts on every point he would drop a set if this joke of a guy, Richard Haigh, was the ump
— SportsFan86 (@NoDjokeFan86) July 14, 2023
Time violation call was legit, but that hindrance call was ridiculous. Props to Djokovic for handling it so well.
— Briane From Chilliwack (@estro_genX) July 14, 2023
And that makes Djokovic even feistier !
— simona m (@simybv81) July 14, 2023
Novak Djokovic vs Jannik Sinner Wimbledon semifinal update
Novak Djokovic indeed responded to those contentious umpire calls in style as at the time of writing this report, the World No.2 was leading 2 sets to none, being up 6-3, 6-4, 1-1.
