Novak Djokovic slammed by Andy Roddick for controversial Nardi stop moment, calls it a 'desperation move' not needed against World No.123

ATP
Thursday, 21 March 2024 at 16:00
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Novak Djokovic has been slammed by Andy Roddick for his actions during his recent Indian Wells defeat to Luca Nardi as the World No.1 had drama with the umpire as it was perceived by him that he stopped before the point had actually gone out.

It was all academic in the end as Djokovic was dumped out by Nardi, who went on to lose to Tommy Paul and ironically then lost in the opening round of qualifying to another recent star in Jakub Mensik. But Roddick wasn't too impressed for how he dealt with a player not on his same ranking or wavelength and how irate he got. Djokovic has decided not to play this week at the Miami Open and instead will have a week off actually in Miami before heading onto the clay.

"It's a desperation move, I don't see any world where Novak [Djokovic] should ever be desperate against someone ranked 123 in the world. One, the guy didn't stop. Like, you watch it, he didn't stop," said Roddick on Served.

"Like, there have been 27 other clips of him (Djokovic) where... and I hate this, to turn back the clock 13 years and expect us to remember a certain point, but like there are all these things of Novak kind of definitely not stopping, but stopping way more than Nardi did in that point."

"Nardi did not stop. And even if your opponent stops, that doesn't mean that you have to. Quite the opposite! If they stop, you keep going, you win the point."

"So it's like, to choose to... one, be wrong about what someone else is doing. Then make the wrong decision on continuation, then make a stink about it to the ref, and then mention it to a young player who just had the biggest moment of their lives at the handshake is just an unforced error in my mind."

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