While cruising to victory in the semi-finals of the Australian Open, Novak Djokoivc was involved in a fiery exchange with the chair umpire.
Having opened up a commanding 5-1 lead in the opening set on Rod Laver Arena, the Serbian was left flustered by a serve clock violation when he went to get his towel. The serve clock gives players a maximum of 25 seconds to hit a serve after the completion of the previous point.
The 35-year-old argued that the chair umpire should have started the shot clock after he had gone to collect his towel. “The ball kids are not allowed to give me the towel, so tell me how it works,” he asks the umpire, who replied "that’s not the way it works” before explaining the rules to him.
Djokovic hit back: “It's the first time I've been to the towel this game, and you start the clock before I touch the towel. Well done.” The crowd jeered the 21-time Grand Slam winner for his complaints and it seemed to distract him as squandered his lead and was pegged back to 5-5.
Tim Henman, working in his role as a Eurosport pundit, agreed that the incident distracted him. "I'm surprised he had that type of in-depth discussion and, for me, it did distract him," the former British number one said.
But Djokovic showed his champion qualities as he won the next two games to clinch the first set 7-5 to a chorus of boos from the crowd. Playing up to his pantomime villain status, Djokovic put his finger behind his ear to taunt the spectators at Rod Laver Arena.
Djokovic ultimately converted seven of 11 break points to move within one win of equalling Rafael Nadal’s tally of 22 major crowns. The two-hour, 20-minute 7-5, 6-1, 6-2 win set up a blockbuster championship match clash against Stefanos Tsitsipas, who earlier defeated Karen Khachanov 7-6(2), 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-3.
"I was really fortunate to hold my nerve toward the end of the first set," said Djokovic. "It was a key. After that I started swinging through the ball more, so I'm just really pleased to get through to another final. It means everything, especially at this stage of my career.
"I need that engine, I need that energy and I'm really thankful that I still have enough gas in my legs to be able to play in this level on one of the biggest tennis courts in the world."
Sunday’s final will also be a straight shootout for No. 1 in the ATP Rankings, with the winner set to leapfrog Carlos Alcaraz into top spot on Monday.
"Of course it [adds extra significance]," said Djokovic, who has won his last nine matches against the Greek star.
"Winning Grand Slams and being the No. 1 in the world are probably the two biggest peaks that you can climb as a professional tennis player. Let's see what happens."
