Sports Asked on August 22, 2021
Novak Djokovic, the top seed of US Open 2020 (and world #1 as of the start of the tournament) was defaulted from his 4th round match against Carreno Busta after hitting a line judge with a ball.
This reminds me of when in 2009 also at the US open, Serena Williams was given a point penalty when down a match against Kim Clijsters point for verbally abusing a line judge. Serena was the second seed in that tournament, but the top remaining seed at the moment of the incident.
Has a top seed – male or female – in any grand slam ever been defaulted/disqualified from a match?
I was watching ESPN's coverage of the US open today (day after the incident). There was a few minute special coverage by Tom Rinaldi on Djokovic's default after the Thiem vs Auger-Aliassime match. During that program with former #4 ranked player James Blake, the host Chris McKendry mentioned that this was the first time ever the top seed had been defaulted in a grand slam tournament.
Correct answer by alamoot on August 22, 2021
At least in reasonably recent history, the answer is no.
The highest seed to have been defaulted (as opposed to retired voluntarily) was John McEnroe (1990 Australian Open, 4th seed). This Sydney Morning Herald article lists the disqualifications since 1990.
Serena Williams (2009 US Open, 2nd seed) also lost a match as a direct result of an official penalty, although she was not actually defaulted but rather lost a point penalty which happened to be the final point in the match.
Prior to 1990, the most recent Grand Slam disqualification was in 1963, and I don't see anyone significant disqualified prior to that.
Answered by Joe on August 22, 2021
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