Tennis legend and ESPN analyst John McEnroe predicted Novak Djokovic will have a difficult time redeeming himself after his shocking disqualification from the US Open on Sunday.
McEnroe, discussing the stunning turn of events on ESPN2's coverage of the tournament on Sunday night, said Djokovic could still potentially recover in the court of public opinion, but he has a long road ahead of him.
The 61-year-old seven-time Grand Slam winner was famous for his outbursts and disagreements with umpires, but his antics never quite veered out of the control the way it did for Djokovic, when he mistakenly drilled a lines judge in the neck with a dead ball after slamming it out of frustration.
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"Certainly I know from some experience that you've got to be careful out there. ... The pressure just got to him, I think. A lot's been going on off the court. It's obviously affected him, and now whether he likes it or not he's going to be the bad guy the rest of his career."
Djokovic's fate will be determined in part by the response of his fellow players and the sport's fans, McEnroe said.
"This is obviously a stain that he's not going to be able to erase, whether he likes it or not. So this comes down to ... emotionally, how is he going to handle it? It's not about the physical part, and him getting older. It's, how will he deal with this moving forward? What type of reaction is he going to get from the opposing players? What type of reaction will he get when fans start coming back to the arenas?"
Djokovic, a 17-time Grand Slam winner, apologized for the stunt on social media and said he had spoken to the official, who was hit near her throat but appeared to be OK. Djokovic didn't talk to media, however.
Fellow tennis legend and ESPN analyst Chris Evert suggested sympathy will be short for Djokovic, who staged a tournament earlier this summer after expressing skepticism about the coronavirus. Several attendees including Djokovic later tested positive for the virus.
"Novak has had quite the summer, and careless in a lot of ways, starting with the Adria Tour -- no safe distancing, no masks, and he caught the COVID," Evert said. "And in a lot of peoples' minds, that was a little careless, how he conducted that tour. And then this instance here. ... Mentally, emotionally, he looked out of sorts out there today."
"He's gone through adversity before," McEnroe said. "It was self-imposed. I certainly know about self-imposed pressure, and blowing it, and making things worse for yourself -- exacerbating the situation. I'm just amazed that he did something as boneheaded as that, in a situation where he was the overwhelming favorite."
Ultimately, it was a bad look for the sport and another depressing twist in a year full of them, McEnroe said.
"It sucks, is the bottom line. This whole day. It's just -- 2020, it's been so difficult for so many people. People going through hell and back -- and just when you think something crazier couldn't happen, it does happen."