World No.1 and raging French Open favourite Novak Djokovic has come perilously close to being disqualified from the tournament following a careless racquet toss which narrowly missed a linesman.
Frustrated at having failed to convert a break point during the third set of his 6-3 7-5 6-3 quarter-final victory over seventh seed Tomas Berdych, Djokovic flung his racquet backwards where it crashed into the advertising boards behind.
The racquet only narrowly avoided the linesman - which saved Djokovic's bid for the one remaining grand slam title which has eluded him.
Had the racquet hit the linesman, Djokovic would almost certainly have been disqualified immediately.
Djokovic immediately held up a hand in apology, but it was not enough to save him from a code violation handed down by umpire Eva Asderaki-Moore for racquet abuse.
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The 11-times grand slam champion was also roundly criticised last month for shoving the arm of chair umpire Carlos Bernardes during a win over Rafael Nadal in Rome, but escaped sanction completely.
That led to Australian star Nick Kyrgios hinting at double standards within the tennis elite - declaring "it would be an absolute circus" if he'd done similar.
"But he did it (and) nothing really happened of it," Kyrgios said.
"It speaks for itself."
Djokovic will almost certainly be slugged with a hefty fine when organisers meet on Friday morning.
The win takes Djokovic through to his sixth-straight semi-final appearance at Roland Garros - the only grand slam he's yet to conquer.
