A furious Novak Djokovic smashes his racket during yet ANOTHER on-court outburst during quarter-final victory against Alexander Zverev at the Australian Open
- Novak Djokovic lost his cool during his Australian Open quarter-final match
- At 3-1 down in the third set to Alexander Zverev, he threw a tantrum on court
- After losing a point a deuce, the world No 1 slammed his racket into the ground
- Djokovic went on to beat Zverev to book his place in the last four in Melbourne
Smashing rackets on court is becoming somewhat of a bad habit for Novak Djokovic, who again lost his temper during Tuesday’s quarter-final victory over Alexander Zverev at the Australian Open.
Djokovic, who has never been shy of showing his emotion, lost his cool at 3-1 down in the third set.
The world No 1 sent a return crashing into the net to give Zverev the advantage and a chance to extend his lead to 4-1, which the German took with an ace on the following point.
Novak Djokovic slams his racket into the ground during his Australian Open quarter-final
The world No 1 lost his temper while 3-1 down in the third set against Alexander Zverev
Djokovic reacted to losing the deuce point by screaming and slamming his racket into the ground.
The Serbian then sat at the back of the court in a sulk before asking for the mess caused by his racket smash to be cleaned up.
It wasn’t until after he threw his racket at his bag that he was given a warning.
Djokovic managed to regain his composure and took the third set 6-4 and clinched the fourth set after winning a tie-break 8-6 to secure a 6-7, 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 win.
Djokovic’s mess is cleaned up following his outburst, which he was warned about on Tuesday
It was reminiscent of when Djokovic smashed his racket during the quarter-finals of the Italian Open last September against German qualifier Dominik Koepfer.
Djokovic went on to win the match, just as he did on Tuesday, on his way to clinching the tournament.
He admitted afterwards that it was his way of sometimes releasing his anger, something that he said didn’t set a good example to his younger fans.
That happened only a couple of weeks after Djokovic was disqualified from the US Open when he accidentally hit a line judge with a ball towards the end of the first set of his fourth-round match against Pablo Carreno Busta.
He was disqualified from the US Open last year after hitting a line judge with a ball
Djokovic had to forfeit the $250,000 he was due for reaching the fourth round and was widely criticised for losing his temper even if hitting the line judge was accidental.
And while Tuesday’s outburst was nothing close to his behaviour at Flushing Meadows, those watching the match against Zverev weren’t impressed.
‘I hope he’s fined for that behaviour,’ wrote one viewer. ‘Bad example for the children who look up to him. Bad. Bad,’ added another.