Novak Djokovic has caught the notice at the Australian Open immediately after becoming handed a note on a bottle by his group for the duration of his match towards Andrey Rublev. The previous entire world No 1 elevated eyebrows previously in the match when a member of his support crew ended up spotted attaching a take note to a drinks bottle just before handing it to an Australian Open official to give to Djokovic.
The clip quickly went viral on social media, even though it truly is within the principles for this year’s event for players to acquire on-courtroom coaching. The 2023 Grand Slam rulebook states: “In 2023 an Off-court coaching demo will be done at all Grand Slam tournaments.”
And Djokovic appears to be using the new rule to his gain at the 2023 Australian Open up. Just a few online games into his quarter-last match from Rublev, Djokovic’s assistance team yet again passed around a secret notice to the Serbian by attaching it to a drinks bottle.
The new regulations in location for this calendar year condition players are permitted verbal interaction with their workforce so extended as they are on the similar aspect of the court docket and alerts need to be made use of if they’re reverse one a different. The message on a bottle elevated the interest of Eurosport’s commentary group with Chris Bradnam joking about the Serbian’s secrecy.
“What message are they finding throughout?” Bradnam reported on Eurosport. “The liquids. If which is likely to aid Novak Djokovic and he bottles it for sale, he’d make a fortune.”
Djokovic’s wife, Jelena Djokovic, raged on social media back again in November following a online video of his team mixing a consume for the duration of the Paris Masters while attempting to block an individual recording them went viral. The video was shortly seen around 15 million periods with some urging for far more transparency on the substances gamers get.
The bottle incident was played down by Australian tennis star John Millman, who identified as the suspicions a “preposterous idea”. And Jelena Djokovic extra to the defence of her husband, questioning why there continued to be a highlight on the tennis icon’s steps.
“Not everything you see is controversial. It could be private. Is that permitted?” she said at the time. “I really do not see anything dodgy.
“In reality, I see people today trying to be private about their small business in a world exactly where everyone feels like they have each individual right to place digicam at you whenever they want. Seemingly, seeking/hoping to be non-public tends to make you dodgy presently.”