From Djokovic to McEnroe: Five tennis stars who were disqualified after losing their temper

Daniil Medvedev was disqualified today in the China Open semifinals while trailing Novak Djokovic 7-5, 5-3. Frustrated after losing a point, the Russian smashed a ball toward the stands and hit a spectator in the face.

Djokovic advanced to the Beijing final without having to finish the match. It was his 33rd straight win in the city, it sends him into his seventh China Open final, and it secures his return to the top ten. He will play for the title on Tuesday.

Medvedev, 30, had arrived on a seven-match winning streak after taking the title in Chengdu, and he was pushing the 39-year-old Djokovic hard. The front-row fan was able to leave under his own power, but his eye was visibly affected. Medvedev did not argue the decision. He shook hands with Djokovic and left for the locker room.

The scene echoes others, and the rulebook has not changed. Here are the five cases that best show how tennis handles a moment of anger.

On January 21, 1990, McEnroe, then world No. 5 and 30 years old, faced Sweden's Mikael Pernfors in the fourth round in Melbourne. Pernfors was ranked No. 63 but had reached the French Open final in 1986. McEnroe was chasing his first major since the 1984 US Open, and he was leading 6-1, 4-6, 7-5, 2-4 when chair umpire Gerry Armstrong defaulted him.

The sequence was a ladder of penalties. McEnroe first received a warning for intimidating a lineswoman, then a point penalty for abusing his racket, then a default for verbal abuse. What he did not know was that the code of conduct had just been tightened: the path to disqualification had gone from four steps to three. He admitted afterward that he had only himself to blame for not knowing the rule.

It was the first default at a Grand Slam for misconduct since 1963, when Spain's Willie Alvarez was removed from the French Open. For the sport, it was the moment the code of conduct stopped being an abstract threat. Pernfors lost in the next round to Yannick Noah, so the walkover didn't even carry him deep into the draw.

On June 17, 2012, Nalbandian played Marin Cilic for the title at Queen's Club. The Argentine, a former Wimbledon finalist, was ranked No. 39 and past his prime, while Cilic was No. 25 and on the rise. Nalbandian had won the first set 7-6(3) and was trailing 3-4 in the second, having just lost his serve, when he kicked the small advertising panel in front of line judge Andrew McDougall. A piece of it flew into the official's left shin, drawing blood.

After a long delay and discussions between tournament and ATP officials, umpire Fergus Murphy issued a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct, and Cilic was handed the title by default. Nalbandian forfeited his prize money and his finalist's ranking points, and he was also fined. He later suggested the pressure of the ATP calendar had played a role, and reports at the time said he was unhappy with the rain-hit conditions that week. Cilic said it was not how he wanted to win.

Nobody knew it then, but this was close to the end of Nalbandian's career. He played his last final in 2013, a loss to Rafael Nadal in Rio, and had surgery afterward. It remains the most dramatic case on this list because it happened in a final. Cilic, for his part, would win the US Open two years later.

On February 5, 2017, Canada and Great Britain were level at two rubbers apiece in their Davis Cup first-round tie in Ottawa. Vasek Pospisil had just beaten Dan Evans in four sets to force a decider, and the fifth rubber pitted 17-year-old Denis Shapovalov against Kyle Edmund. Shapovalov was down 6-3, 6-4, 2-1 when he lost his serve, pulled a ball from his pocket and hit it in anger. It struck chair umpire Arnaud Gabas in the left eye.

Gabas was taken to Ottawa General Hospital as a precaution, with bruising and swelling but no serious damage. Shapovalov was defaulted, which handed Britain the tie 3-2 and a quarterfinal date with France. The crowd booed, and the young Canadian later said he felt ashamed and embarrassed for letting his team and country down.

The ITF fined him $7,000, short of the $12,000 maximum, because the act was not judged intentional. Even so, the case is a reminder of how heavy the stakes are in team competition: one flash of temper ended a tie that Canada had fought back to level, and it came from a teenager who was already seen as one of the sport's brightest prospects.

On September 6, 2020, Djokovic reached the fourth round as world No. 1, unbeaten in 2020, in an empty Arthur Ashe Stadium because of the pandemic. Against Spain's Pablo Carreño Busta, he wasted three set points, lost his serve to fall behind 5-6, and swatted a ball toward the back of the court. It struck a line judge in the throat. She fell to the ground, and Djokovic rushed over to apologize.

The rules left no room. Intent does not matter, and after a long conversation with the tournament referee and the Grand Slam supervisor, Djokovic was defaulted. He shook hands with a stunned Carreño Busta, left the grounds without a press conference, and lost all the ranking points from the event. Tim Henman, who had been disqualified from Wimbledon in 1995 in a similar incident, said the decision was right: you answer for your actions even when you aren't aiming at anyone.

His exit changed the tournament. It was the first time since Stan Wawrinka's 2016 US Open win that a Slam champion would not come from Djokovic, Nadal or Federer, and Dominic Thiem went on to win the title. It is the only case here where a default directly reshaped the competition, and in light of today's events, it carries a new twist: six years later, Djokovic is the one who advances.

On February 22, 2022, Zverev, then world No. 3, played doubles in Acapulco with Brazil's Marcelo Melo. They lost 6-2, 4-6, 10-6 to Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara. Earlier in the match, umpire Alessandro Germani had given Zverev a code violation for yelling and swearing during an argument over a ball ruled in. After the final point, Zverev walked to the umpire's chair and hit it repeatedly with his racket, coming perilously close to hitting Germani, and he did it again after sitting down briefly.

The ATP withdrew him from the tournament for unsportsmanlike conduct, and because he was the defending singles champion, the sanction cost him on court as well as financially. He was fined $20,000 for verbal abuse and $20,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct, and he forfeited $31,570 in prize money along with all ranking points from both singles and doubles in Acapulco.

A later ATP review found "aggravated behavior" and added a $25,000 fine and an eight-week suspension. Both were withheld on the condition that Zverev incur no further violations over a one-year probation period ending February 22, 2023. Zverev apologized. Of the five cases, this is the one without a ball striking an official, and it shows that the sport can come down hard even when the object of someone's anger is a chair.