“It’s embarrassing” - Novak Djokovic slams Jack Draper vs Felix Auger-Aliassime match point ‘nonsense’ at Cincinnati Open, demands video review rule

Novak Djokovic spoke up about Jack Draper and Felix Auger-Aliassime's controversial match point at the Cincinnati Open. The Brit ousted the Canadian 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 but the match point that helped him clinch the win led to a huge controversy.

During match point, Draper hit a volley that seemingly hit the court on his own side of the net before going over to the other side. Auger-Aliassime was walking over prepared to play the next point but was stunned when he found that chair umpire Greg Allensworth had already awarded the point to the Brit, ending the match in his favor.

Auger-Aliassime engaged in a heated discussion with the umpire about how Draper had shanked the volley. The Brit was unsure and offered to replay the point if a video review showed that he had shanked it, however, all their appeals came to no avail as Allensworth said that he felt Draper had hit a legitimate volley bringing the match to a controversial end.

The video replays later confirmed that Felix Auger-Aliassime was correct and the ball had indeed bounced on Jack Draper's side first when he hit the match-winning volley.

A lot of players voiced their dismay at the controversy, including Novak Djokovic, who took to X (formerly Twitter) to slam the lack of video replays in tennis. He said that it was 'ridiculous' how the chair umpire wasn't allowed to change the original call based on a video replay.

"It’s embarrassing that we don’t have video replay of these kind of situations on the court. What’s even more ridiculous is that we don’t have the rule in place that would allow chair umpires to change the original call based on the video review that happens off the court," Djokovic said.

The Serb talked about how everyone who watches the match on TV could watch the replay, whereas, the player on the court couldn't know the outcome despite the technology being available. He called the situation "nonsense" and urged the governing bodies to make sure it wasn't repeated.

"Everyone who watches TV sees what happened on the replay, yet the players on the court are kept in “dark” not knowing what’s the outcome. We have Hawkeye for line calls, we live in the technologically advanced 21st century! Please respective Tours, make sure this nonsense never happens again!"

After foregoing his Cincinnati Open title defense, Novak Djokovic will be back in action at the 2024 US Open

Novak Djokovic (Image Source: Getty)

After winning the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Novak Djokovic decided to withdraw from the Cincinnati Open where he was the defending champion, and dropped 1000 ranking points due to it. He defeated Carlos Alcaraz in a three-hour and 49-minute epic last year that was ranked as ATP's match of the year.

He is slated to compete at the US Open next where he will be the defending champion once again. The Serb will be going for a record 25th Grand Slam.

Currently World No. 2, Djokovic could drop down to third if Alexander Zeverev manages to win the ongoing Cincinnati Open. The German is in the semifinals of the tournament, where he will face Jannik Sinner.