Novak Djokovic has reportedly been slapped with a fine after smashing his racket into the net post during the fifth set of this year’s Wimbledon final. The Serb struggled to control his emotions after he was broken by Carlos Alcaraz, who went on to claim his second Grand Slam title by wrapping up a thrilling five-set victory on Centre Court.
Djokovic smashed his racket against the net post in a fit of rage and was unable to recover from that point as Alcaraz held his nerve to hand the Belgrade native his first defeat at SW19 in over six years. His angry reaction left a number of dents in the wooden post and he has since been fined £6,150 as a result of his hot-headed antics, according to the Daily Mail.
It comes after Djokovic’s refusal to apologise for the incident in his post-match press conference, during which he said: “There’s not much to talk about that. Second one was frustration. I had break points in the second game. Yeah, just tough, tough couple of points.
“He played amazing to break my serve, which was enough to win the fifth. The first one was the time violation, so yeah. Not a great moment again, but you just kind of have to accept it.”
Djokovic was later asked whether he regretted smashing his racket into the net post and gave a snappy response as he replied: “It was a frustration in the moment. I answered to your colleague two minutes ago about that. There’s not much to say about that.”
He was gracious in defeat after the match, though, and made sure to congratulate Alcaraz on his victory before holding back tears when speaking about his son, who was in attendance to watch the action on Centre Court.
“I’ve won many close matches here down the years, maybe I should have lost a couple of finals that I won so it’s even Stevens,” said Djokovic. “It’s a tough one to swallow when you are so close. I lost to the better player and I have to congratulate him and move on.
“It’s nice to see my son still smiling,” he added, before taking a few moments to compose himself as he was cheered by the Wimbledon crowd. He then continued: “I love you, thank you for supporting me and I’ll give you a big hug and we can all love each other. Thank you.”
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