Stefanos Tsitsipas came very close to a disqualification during his quarterfinal match at the 2023 Australian Open.
In 2020, Novak Djokovic was disqualified from his fourth-round match at the US Open against Pablo Carreno Busta, after he hit one of the line judges. Last year, when Nick Kyrgios played against Stefanos Tsitsipas at Wimbledon, the Greek hit the ball in anger and appeared to hit one of the spectators, as the Australian demanded a disqualification for him.
Now, Tsitsipas wasn't very far from being disqualified again. After one of the winners of his opponent, Jiri Lehecka, the world no. 4 hit a ball in frustration. That wouldn't be an issue, if one of the ball kids wasn't already trying to collect it.
Former world no. 1, Jim Courier, who noticed the incident while providing a commentary for Channel 9, said:
"I'm not sure if we're gonna get a replay of it Tsitsipas just got really lucky. He swings in anger and it nearly hits the ball kid. And if he does, you are shaking hands, losing this match. You cannot do that, that was dangerous."
"Djokovic got defaulted at the US Open a few years back for swatting a ball and hitting a linesperson. But there are still people on the court and if you hit them you are disqualified. If you hit someone in the stands in anger as well, you are out as well."
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