Alexander Zverev just happened to be in press after his straight sets win over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Sunday, when Novak Djokovic was defaulted from the tournament for striking a linesperson with a ball.
Naturally the details of the German’s win seemed less pressing.
“I was 100 percent sure that I was not going to get asked this question,” Zverev said when a reporter asked him to give his thoughts on what had happened in Djokovic's match.
He then went on to say that it was an unfortunate break for Djokovic, but that he believed ultimately the right decision had been made.
“I mean, look, it's unfortunate,” he said. “He hit a ball, he hit a tennis ball. It's very unfortunate that, you know, he hit the line judge, and especially where it hit her. Yeah, there is a rule in place for it. I think the supervisors and all of them are just doing their job. But, yeah, very unlucky for Novak.”
Zverev, who will face Borna Coric in his first US Open quarterfinal, says that Djokovic might have been able to avoid a default if the ball he hit didn’t strike the umpire near the head, and send her tumbling to the court.
“I think he's going to be a little bit upset about it, but,” Zverev said. “He could have -- if he would have hit it anywhere else, if it would have landed anywhere else, we are talking about a few inches, he would have been fine. So, yeah, very unlucky.”
The 23-year-old German was asked if he’d ever been in a similar situation.
“I don't think I have ever gotten defaulted yet in my career or in my life. No, I haven't been in a situation like that,” he said. “But as I said, it's very unlucky, very unfortunate. The decision was made I think by the supervisors, and as I said, they are just doing their job. There is nothing much else I can say to that. I don't know -- yeah. I mean, I don't know what to say. I'm a little bit in shock right now, to be honest.”