WORLD number one and the undefeated Novak Djokovic has been defaulted from the 2020 US Open after he accidentally struck a ball that hit a linesperson during the first set of his fourth round match with Pablo Carreno Busta.

The Serbian top seed had just been broken in the eleventh game, and turned to hit the ball off court and it connected with the linesperson’s neck at the baseline of his side of the court. To Djokovic’s credit he went over to the linesperson to check on her health, but unfortunately for the tournament favourite there are strict protocols regarding players hitting linespeople – accidentally or not – which forced the umpire’s hand in choosing to default Djokovic.

What that means is Djokovic is out of the US Open with his first loss of the year – after being 26-0 – and there are no current Grand Slam winners remaining in the US Open. It leaves the draw wide open with 20th seed Carreno Busta to face the winner of Denis Shapovalov and David Goffin, and Russian third seed Daniil Medvedev as the new tournament favourite.

Djokovic left the US Open without attending his usual post-match press conference.

Full results of the day to come later on Tennis Central.