Novak Djokovic lays into chair umpire during heated argument in Italian Open QF loss to Holger Rune

A frustrated Novak Djokovic lashed out at chair umpire Mohammed Lahyani for his dramatic way of calling the scores during his quarterfinal loss at the 2023 Italian Open.

Djokovic, a six-time Rome Masters champion, was knocked out by youngster Holger Rune 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 on Wednesday, May 17. The encounter lasted 2 hours and 20 minutes.

Rune broke the 22-time Slam champion twice in the first set to win it comfortably. Djokovic’s play improved in the second, and he managed to break the Dane’s serve for a 5-3 lead. However, the 20-year-old soon broke back to make it 5-4.

The match was stopped due to rain with Rune serving at 4-5, 0-30 in the second set. After a one-hour and seven-minute delay, the Serb continued his earlier momentum to take the set 6-4.

He then looked visibly rattled as he went down a break early in the deciding set. Djokovic snapped at chair umpire Mohammed Lahyani at 0-2, 15-30, after he was handed a time violation. The World No. 1 was irked by how long Lahyani took to call out the scores and asked the umpire if he was “acting.”

“What’s the drama, waiting in between English and Italian? What are you acting here or what?” the frustrated Serb yelled.

Lahyani explained this was how the score was called, but the answer was unsatisfactory for Djokovic.

“This is how you do what? Why do you call the score for 20 seconds? Just call it a score, for God’s sake," the 35-year-old said before turning to return to the baseline.

Djokovic’s aggression did not help his play, as the veteran was broken for a second time in that game. Rune raced to a 4-0 lead in the third set and eventually claimed it 6-2.

This was Djokovic's second consecutive loss to the Dane, who now leads their head-to-head 2-1.

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“Good on Novak” - Journalist Ben Rothenberg sides with Djokovic for calling out Lahyani

Djokovic received Ben Rothberg's support

Journalist Ben Rothenberg, who has a history of criticizing Novak Djokovic on social media, appreciated the Serb for speaking against the chair umpire. Rothenberg stated he had never seen any player call out Lahyani and that it was overdue.

“Never seen a player directly call out Mo Lahyani’s showmanship, but this is overdue. Good on Novak. I have a suspicion Lahyani might even be a Netflix subject this cycle (he’s been mic’d up often)…seems to be acting especially over the top, even for him,” he tweeted.

Djokovic's loss has cast doubt on his chances of winning the 2023 French Open. The Serb has not won a single title on clay this year and has a win-loss record of 5-3.