Novak Djokovic continued his Australian Open campaign with a four-set victory over Portuguese qualifier Jaime Faria, turning out the winner 6-1 6-7 6-3 6-2 to proceed to the next round. However, the legendary Serbian faced a minor setback by losing the second set, which included a small incident and disagreement with the chair umpire as he was involved in a minor argument.
At 5-5 in the second set, the floodlights at the Rod Laver Arena were turned on, which irked Djokovic due to the sudden use of the lights in the middle of the set. Typically, stadiums wait until the conclusion of a set or consult both players on court before making such a decision, with it capable of affecting visibility and also the manner in which the ball plays.
Video of the incident captures Djokovic discussing the situation with the chair umpire, making his point originally in French, before switching to English when Faria joined the conversation.
The two players seemed to be on the same page about the situation, with Djokovic asking his opponent “We will wait for them to switch them off?”, before coming to a consensus by saying “We can wait for the end of the set if they want to switch them on.”
Faria also asked the older tennis star if he had made the request for the lights, and then added on “Me neither,” indicating that he was also not consulted regarding the decision, and that he could see fine without the lights.
Djokovic drops set after incident
The moment would resolve with the lights being turned off and play allowed to to see itself through to to the end of the set, with the crowd providing an ironic cheer as the lights went out and allowed play to resume after the brief break.
However, Djokovic looked to lose his focus just a touch at a crucial point in the set. 21-year-old Faria knuckled down and won the ensuing tiebreaker by seven points to four. Djokovic wouldn’t let that be much more than a blip, however, as he confidently won the next two sets to ensure his progression into the next match.
Djokovic is set to play world number 25 Tomas Machac of Czechia, who beat Reilly Opelka earlier in the day. Djokovic fans, however, might be slightly concerned by him dropping a pair of sets to his lower-ranked and inexperienced early-round opponents.
