Novak Djokovic continued his Australian Open marketing campaign with a four-set victory over Portuguese qualifier Jaime Faria, turning out the winner 6-1 6-7 6-3 6-2 to proceed to the subsequent spherical. Nonetheless, the legendary Serbian confronted a minor setback by dropping the second set, which included a small incident and disagreement with the chair umpire as he was concerned in a minor argument.
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic reacts after the lights had been turned on throughout a recreation in his males’s singles match in opposition to Portugal’s Jaime Faria on day 4 of the Australian Open.(AFP)
At 5-5 within the second set, the floodlights on the Rod Laver Enviornment had been turned on, which irked Djokovic because of the sudden use of the lights in the midst of the set. Sometimes, stadiums wait till the conclusion of a set or seek the advice of each gamers on court docket earlier than making such a choice, with it able to affecting visibility and likewise the style wherein the ball performs.
Video of the incident captures Djokovic discussing the scenario with the chair umpire, making his level initially in French, earlier than switching to English when Faria joined the dialog.
The 2 gamers gave the impression to be on the identical web page in regards to the scenario, with Djokovic asking his opponent “We will wait for them to switch them off?”, before coming to a consensus by saying “We are able to anticipate the top of the set in the event that they wish to change them on.”
Faria additionally requested the older tennis star if he had made the request for the lights, after which added on “Me neither,” indicating that he was additionally not consulted concerning the choice, and that he might see wonderful with out the lights.
Djokovic drops set after incident
The second would resolve with the lights being turned off and play allowed to to see itself by to to the top of the set, with the gang offering an ironic cheer because the lights went out and allowed play to renew after the transient break.
Nonetheless, Djokovic appeared to lose his focus only a contact at an important level within the set. 21-year-old Faria knuckled down and received the following tiebreaker by seven factors to 4. Djokovic wouldn’t let that be way more than a blip, nonetheless, as he confidently received the subsequent two units to make sure his development into the subsequent match.
Djokovic is about to play world quantity 25 Tomas Machac of Czechia, who beat Reilly Opelka earlier within the day. Djokovic followers, nonetheless, may be barely involved by him dropping a pair of units to his lower-ranked and inexperienced early-round opponents.