Novak Djokovic refuses to continue playing as Serb throws strop at Australian Open
Novak Djokovic survived another test to advance to the third round of the Australian Open on Wednesday, beating qualifier Jaime Faria.
The match wasn’t without some drama, as the 10-time champion became frustrated with a sudden disruption mid-match and refused to continue until the umpire fixed the problem.
There was confusion when Djokovic stormed the chair at 5-5 in the second set immediately after winning a cat-and-mouse 29-shot rally.
The world No. 7 wasn’t happy that the floodlights had been turned on inside Rod Laver Arena and refused to play until they were off. He attempted to plead his case to Marija Cicak in his native language, putting his hand on his hips as he leaned on the net.
Faria soon joined them, confused about the commotion, as Djokovic tried to propose a solution – turning them off immediately and waiting until the end of the set to turn them on. “Unless we wait for the end of the set if they want to switch them on,” he said.
