{"id":427968,"date":"2026-01-24T23:59:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T23:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/427968\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T23:59:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T23:59:12","slug":"how-novak-djokovic-cheekily-avoided-a-potential-australian-open-disqualification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/427968\/","title":{"rendered":"How Novak Djokovic cheekily avoided a potential Australian Open disqualification"},"content":{"rendered":"

Novak Djokovic narrowly avoided a potentially disastrous moment at the Australian Open after an angry swipe of the ball came dangerously close to a ballkid.<\/p>\n

The incident occurred during his 2026 Australian Open match against Botic van de Zandschulp and immediately sparked debate among fans about how close the Serbian came to serious punishment.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Novak Djokovic avoids punishment after ballkid scare\"Photo<\/p>\n

Photo by Martin KEEP \/ AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Video footage from the match<\/a> showed Djokovic smashing the ball away in frustration, with it narrowly missing a ballkid positioned near the back of the court. Had the ball made contact, Djokovic could have faced a possible disqualification under Grand Slam rules.<\/p>\n

Crucially for Djokovic, the chair umpire opted not to issue even a warning, allowing play to continue without interruption.<\/p>\n

The moment drew instant comparisons to past incidents at major tournaments where players were defaulted for striking officials or ballkids with the ball.<\/p>\n

Why Novak Djokovic escaped disqualification<\/p>\n

Under Grand Slam regulations, players can be defaulted if they hit a ball in anger and it strikes an official, ballkid or spectator.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

In this case, the ball missed its unintended target by a narrow margin, giving officials no grounds to escalate the incident.<\/p>\n

The lack of a warning suggested officials viewed the act as accidental rather than reckless, despite Djokovic\u2019s visible frustration at the time. His quick return to focus and the absence of contact proved decisive.<\/p>\n

While the moment passed without consequence, it served as a reminder of how fine the margins can be at the Australian Open, and how close even the most experienced players can come to jeopardising their tournament with a single lapse of judgment.<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic narrowly avoided a potentially disastrous moment at the Australian Open after an angry swipe of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427969,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[12083,15214,60337,433,99,428],"class_list":["post-427968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-australian-open","tag-botic-van-de-zandschulp","tag-dangerously-close","tag-novak-djokovic","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}