
Djokovic's sensational disqualification reminded many of American tennis player John McEnroe's infamous incident during the 1990 Australian Grand Slam.
Tennis legend John McEnroe was a dominating icon in the professional sport during the 1980s. He won three Wimbledon and four US Open titles between 1979 and 1984, against such formidable opponents as Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl.
During his illustrious career, the American won 17 Grand Slams including nine in men’s doubles and one in mixed doubles. However, he was known as "Superbrat" because of constant arguments and badmouthing of umpires and linesmen and one such incident led him to disqualification during Australian Open.
On January 21, 1990, he was playing against Sweden's Mikael Pernfors. McEnroe won the first set easily but Pernfors won the second set. After the players traded service breaks in the third, McEnroe led 2-1. And during the changeover, he stood in front of the lineswoman and glared at her for what he thought made a bad call.
The chair umpire at that time, Gerry Armstrong, gave American ace McEnroe a conduct code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct.
However, the things escalated during the seventh game of the fourth set. McEnroe was leading in the match with 6-1, 4-6, 7-5, 2-4. He threw his racket to the ground, where it bounced on the court's hard surface. The chair umpire called another code violation, for racket abuse, and McEnroe started swearing at him. Ken Farrar, the Grand Slam chief of supervisors arrived and spoke with McEnroe, whose continued complaints and swears were audible to spectators and TV viewers. With Farrar’s authorization, Armstrong called a third and final code violation: "Default Mr. McEnroe. Game, set, match."
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McEnroe became the first man since 1963 to get disqualified in Grand Slam for misconduct.
'Apologetic' Djokovic's ball hit the official with a considerable force that she was left gasping and coughing during his match Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta. It made Djokovic one of a handful of players to be defaulted from the men's singles tournament of a Grand Slam since John McEnroe was infamously tossed from the Australian Open in 1990.