Djokovic erupts against the referee and Zverev: "It's one of the dumbest rules I've seen in my life"
It was a tense moment during the match between Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals of the ATP 500 in Beijing. It all happened at the start of the match with a score of 2-1 and a break in favor of the German. The game was 30-15 also for the German, who then lost the next point, making it 30-30. Up to this point, everything was normal, however, the newly crowned US Open champion went to complain to chair umpire Adel Nour.
According to Zverev's explanation, the problem was that at the moment he served, the side fence distracted him when it changed image and this threw him off, and he asked the chair umpire to check the video to see if this was true, hoping to get the point replayed.
While they showed Nour the video, Djokovic couldn't believe what he was seeing. And he clearly expressed this to the chair umpire in front of Zverev: “It's one of the most stupid rules I have ever seen in my life”. In the end, the German was right, and the point had to be replayed.
Esto que ha pasado en el Zverev-Djokovic es de las cosas más ridículas que yo he visto en una pista de tenis. 🔹 Zverev saca, Djokovic devuelve la bola y Sascha falla el golpe posterior 🔹El alemán para el partido y se queja de que la valla lateral le ha molestado al cambiar de imagen 🔹El juez de silla le da la razón y se decide repetir el punto 🔹Djokovic no se lo puede ni creer y dice que es de las cosas más estúpidas que ha visto en una pista de tenis Apoyo lo que dice Nole. Si le molestó, que hubiera parado el punto tras sacar, no tras fallar luego. Un sinsentido.
— José Morón (@jmgmoron) October 4, 2026
Djokovic returned to the court with an ironic laugh and shaking his head. The most curious thing is that after five minutes of indecision and tension to replay a point, Zverev missed the next ball after the resumption, and everything returned to 30-30.
Both the German and the Serbian are playing a very even and exciting match in which the winner will face Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals of the ATP 500 in Beijing 2026. To date, the head-to-head is favorable to the Serbian by nine wins to five.
This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Djokovic estalla contra el árbitro y Zverev: "Es una de las reglas más estúpidas que he visto en mi vida"