The line judge who was hit in the throat by a ball from Novak Djokovic, leading to his ejection from the US Open, may return to work by the end of the tournament. The line umpire has faced abuse on Instagram since their encounter and she is being monitored by the tournament doctor in her hotel.
The United States Tennis Association also confirmed Djokovic has been fined $10,000 in addition to forfeiting his $250,000 prize money. Djokovic was defaulted on Sunday afternoon after he fired a ball in frustration in his fourth-round match against Pablo Carreño Busta following the loss of his serve at 5-6 in the first set, which accidentally struck the neck of the line umpire, causing her to fall to the ground.
Shortly after his ejection, the USTA released a statement confirming the world No 1 would forfeit the points he earned at the tournament in addition to his fourth-round prize money. The additional $10,000 announced on Monday falls under the category of unsportsmanlike conduct, which carries a maximum fine of $20,000.
The tournament director, Soeren Friemel, later spoke with the media about his decision to eject the world No 1 from the US Open. “In the end, any code violation there is a part of discretion to it but in this instance, I don’t think there was any chance of any opportunity of any other decision other than defaulting Novak, because the facts were so clear, so obvious, that the line umpire was clearly hurt and Novak was angry. He hit the ball recklessly, angrily back and taking everything into consideration, there was no discretion involved.”
