Djokovic out of US open after hitting line judge with ball

Novak Djokovic was kicked out of the US Open grand slam after he accidentally hits the lines judge in the throat with a tennis ball after dropping a game in his fourth-round match Sunday. This brought an end to his stunning 29th consecutive victory.

“His point was that he didn’t hit the line umpire intentionally. He said, ‘Yes, I was angry. I hit the ball. I hit the line umpire. The facts are very clear. But it wasn’t my intent. I didn’t do it on purpose.’ So he said he shouldn’t have defaulted for it,” said Friemel, who made the decision to end the match. “And we all agree that he didn’t do it on purpose, but the facts are still that he hit the line umpire and the line umpire was clearly hurt.”