“It has never happened to me” – Djokovic speaks out about hindrance call in Wimbledon semi-final

Novak Djokovic has spoken out about the controversial hindrance call in his Wimbledon 2023 semi-final against Jannik Sinner, labelling the umpire’s decision incorrect

Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon in 2023 (Chryslene Caillaud/Panoramic)

Bren Gray

July 15, 2023

On Friday afternoon, Novak Djokovic won an incredible 34^th straight match on grass, booking a spot in his ninth Wimbledon final this Sunday.

And yet, after defeating world No 8 Jannik Sinner in straight-sets, one of the main story lines to emerge from the semi-final performance was not how Djokovic neutralised Sinner’s power, or coolly navigated the pressure of having yet another crowd against him.

It was the hindrance call that occurred at 2-1 in the second set.

Djokovic hindrance call against Sinner

With Novak Djokovic serving at 2-1, 15-15 in the second set, the pair engaged in a baseline rally.

Djokovic ran to his left to retrieve a Jannik Sinner cross court backhand, returning fire with his own down the line backhand. As is often the case when players make an audacious shot at full stretch, Djokovic let out a bellow as he struck the ball up the line.

It’s a scenario tennis fans have seen thousands of times before. Watch any Andrey Rublev match, or simply flick over to the WTA for a few seconds, and you’ll hear a combination of shrieks and bellows echoing out of the court.

That is, until Djokovic was called for a hindrance by the chair umpire, stopping the point and causing the Serbian to sink to his haunches in disbelief.

“What are you doing?” Djokovic queried the umpire, exasperated by the call.

“Chair umpire’s call was not correct” – Djokovic on hindrance

Speaking after the match, Novak Djokovic was clear on the fact that he disagreed with the umpire’s call.

“First of all, I have to accept the decision from a chair umpire. That’s it. It was quite a close call, I must say. I mean, it has never happened to me. I’ve never had a hindrance call for extended grunt.

“I saw the replay. I saw that my grunt finished before he hit the shot. So I thought that chair umpire’s call was not correct. I mean, my opinion.

“Again, you have to accept it.”

And accept it Djokovic did, going on to hold serve, and win the second set 6-4, despite also being called for a time violation by the chair umpire

Sinner, commentators weigh in on hindrance call

Jannik Sinner was also asked about the hindrance call in his press conference, to which he responded:

“Yeah, it’s a call of the umpire, no? Obviously he hit the ball already, and then after he was shouting quite long and with the volume up.

“I came there, obviously I was quite focused about the ball. But, yeah, players, we do this when we are quite sure we win the point with this shot. Also, like, I don’t know, Bublik against Andrey in the last game, it was similar, no?”