Self-Inflicted Meltdown Proves Costly for Novak Djokovic as He Finds Himself in Deep Trouble Against American Tommy Paul in an Epic Australian Open Encounter

For tennis fans who have been watching Novak Djokovic over the years, it won’t come of as a huge surprise when it’s told that the Serbian likes his matches, especially big matches, to go on a roller-coaster ride before he ends up winning it all. Today, when Novak plays against American ‘dark horse’ Tommy Paul in a fully-packed Rod Laver Arena, a similar instance riled up the Aussie crowd as they found a valid contestant in Tommy.

Novak Djokovic lands in trouble but narrowly survives scare after venting out frustration at chair umpire

It was business as usual for Djokovic where he raced to a quick-fire 5-1 lead and it looked as if this match would follow the same patter as Djokovic’s previous matches in the same arena. But, in what could be called a slight twist to the tale, the 21-time Grand Slam champion was miffed at the umpire for calling the shot clock well before he could finish off his pre-serve ritual. What resulted was an argument with the umpire as Djokovic could be seen venting out his frustration over the shot clock.

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Usually, it was expected of Djokovic to get back to playing his best tennis as meltdowns usually thrust him forward. But, a little pressure from his American opponent on the return game, completely threw Djokovic off as he ended up losing seven back-to-back points and shanked the lead.

25-year-old Paul, who appeared to be making giant strides in tennis this year, pounced on the opportunity and managed to lessen the gap to just one game. Serving at 5-6 in the first, Paul found it hard to close his service game despite the backing of a fully vocal Rod Laver Arena.

Serving down a set point against a formidable Djokovic, who is a master in handling big points, Paul shanked a forehand out wide and the American’s comeback effort was shattered in a jiff by Djokovic as he clinched the set, 7-5.

As he walks off to his bench, Djokovic was seen inviting the crowd to make more noise for the rest of the match as the semi-final contest turns even more exciting after a hard-fought first set by the two players.

After the meltdown and subsequently winning the first set, Djokovic roars back to form to win the second and is now one set away from reaching the Australian Open final, where he will meet Stefanos Tsitsipas.

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