WATCH: Djokovic comes incredibly close to repeating 2020 US Open disqualification incident

Novak Djokovic was incredibly close to being disqualified from the 2026 Australian Open after he almost repeated his infamous incident from the US Open.

Six years ago, Djokovic experienced one of the most disappointing moments of his entire tennis career. The Serbian player was an overwhelming player to win the 2020 US Open, entering the event as the top seed and cruising past his first three opponents.

In the fourth round, he took on Pablo Carreno Busta in a match that ended up making headlines all around the world, but not for good reasons. Djokovic led 5-4 in the opening set and had three consecutive set points on his opponent's serve to close out the set. However, he shockingly ended up losing nine of the next 10 points to fall behind by a break, 5-6.

A bit frustrated by the development, Djokovic hit the ball towards the ballkids behind the baseline, but very unluckily, his ball struck one of the line umpires. As a result, Djokovic was disqualified from the match.

Now, six years later, he almost repeated a very similar incident. This time, line umpires aren't present on the court anymore, as the automatic line calling system takes care of their job, but the ball kids remain.

At the 2026 Australian Open, Djokovic almost hit one of the ball kids during his most recent match. He was playing against Botic van de Zandschulp when, suddenly, he fired a ball in the direction of one of the ballkids without any apparent reason.

Surprisingly, it wasn't the first time Djokovic has done this at this year's Australian Open. He did a similar thing during the third set of his second-round match against Francesco Maestrelli. That time, however, the ball didn't get as close to the ballkid as it did in his following match against Van de Zandschulp.

It remains a mystery why Djokovic would risk a possible disqualification with such careless behavior. However, he has already secured his quarter-final spot at the Australian Open after his fourth-round opponent, Jakub Mensik, withdrew from the tournament.

Djokovic has also addressed the moment during his post-match press conference after beating Van de Zandschulp, but even though he apologized, he didn't clearly explain what his intentions were.

Djokovic will need to avoid similar incidents if he wants to succeed at this year's Australian Open. His quarter-final opponent will be Lorenzo Musetti, whom he managed to beat in the 2025 Athens Open final.