In the NBA, it would be called putting a bug in the official's ear for the next call.
World's No. 2 tennis player Novak Djokovic is chasing his first French Open title to complete his career Grand Slam. As such, he's not about to let anything that has jeopardized his preparation and approach at Roland Garros.
Reuters.com is reporting that Djokovic complained French Open officials for delaying a decision to cover the courts for rain. He included the chair umpire for his first-round match against Joao Sousa in his criticism.
"In my opinion there are a few times today they maybe should have covered the court earlier," he explained, according to Reuters. "So I think the chair umpire should have made a decision earlier to take us off the court and cover the court.
"I'm talking for the court's sake, for a good condition, because it was a lot of rain. I know that on clay, of course, we can play with a certain level of rain, but still it's not that great for the court's condition."
Reuters reported Djokovic as saying that he and Sousa had to wait for about 10 minutes of a light rain while the chair umpire pondered whether to halt play.
The delay hardly upset Djokovic, although he did lose one of his breaks in the third set of a 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Sousa to reach the second round.
But Djokovic likely is thinking in the back of his mind, as is most of the tennis world, that the French Open title road runs through No. 1 and eight-time winner Rafael Nadal. And Nadal likely has had more experience on clay in different kinds of weather that Djokovic.
If the weather is a factor in a possible finals matchup between the two, Djokovic is hoping to get a ruling to cover any rained-on courts sooner.
Djokovic didn't let the delay affect him Monday as he let a ball boy sit in his chair during the delay until the chair umpire ruled the courts OK for play. But he knows the conditions must be ideal for him to have a chance of taking away Nadal's throne.
Do you think Novak Djokovic will complete his career Grand Slam at the 2014 French Open? Comment below or tell us @SportsWN.
© Copyright 2024 Sports World News, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
