Novak Djokovic refuses to apologise for racquet smash incident, damaging Wimbledon net post during Carlos Alcaraz clash

Novak Djokovic stood a win away from twin Open Era glories. With a win, he could have equalled Roger Federer for most ever Wimbledon trophies won by a player and would have become the first player, male or female, to an unprecedented 24th Major. However, he was stunned by world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz in the final which eventually ended his long-standing Centre Court streak as well. En route, Djokovic had lost his cool, was left utterly frustrated as he smashed his racquet on the Centre Court net post, damaging it as well.

Despite being almost bageled in the opening set, Alcaraz bounced back in supreme fashion, putting behind that 1-6 loss in the opener and that French Open defeat to the Serb to end Djokovic's streak of 15-wins in tie-breakers at Majors. After taking a two set to one lead, Djokovic roared back to force a decider before being broken first in the final set. It was right then when Djokovic let out his frustration.

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The 36-year-old, who had earlier been served with a time violation by umpire Fergus Murphy, smashed his racket on the net post, leaving a dent mark on it and was immediately given a warning. But he did not apologise for the incident.

"There's not much to talk about that," Djokovic said. "Second one was frustration. I had break points in the second game. Yeah, just tough, tough couple of points. He played amazing to break my serve, which was enough to win the fifth. The first one was the time violation, so yeah. Not a great moment again, but you just kind of have to accept it."

The 23-time Grand Slam winner was further asked whether he "regretted" that outburst, but Djokovic came up with a snappy response.

"It was a frustration in the moment. "I answered to your colleague two minutes ago about that. There's not much to say about that," he said.

Djokovic eyes Alcaraz revenge

The Spaniard now leads the head-to-head tie by 2-1 against Djokovic having won their maiden encounter in 2022 Madrid Open semis. But Djokovic is already looking forward for a fourth clash, at the US Open, where Alcaraz will head as the defending champion.

He said: “I hope we get to play in US Open. Why not? I think it’s good for the sport. 1 & 2 in the world facing each other in 5 hours, a 5 set thriller. Couldn’t be better for our sport in general. So why not?”

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