Novak Djokovic’s never seen before move stuns tennis

The Australian Open’s treatment of the biggest stars on the WTA Tour has come under fire after a bizarre scheduling blunder.

Day 8 of the Australian Open is in the books with a host of quarterfinal matches set on Sunday.

While the early on-court action failed to present any major upsets or firework moments, former world number one Novak Djokovic made up for it in the night session.

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Djokovic saw his frustrations boil over as an unruly Rod Laver Arena crowd turned on him before he stunned the tennis world with a never seen before post-game act.

The Serbian did however lock in a blockbuster quarterfinal contest against Carlos Alcaraz while fellow superstars Alexander Zverev, Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka all booked their places in the next round.

Sunday’s order of play was widely criticised after the four women’s fourth round matches were all finished early in the afternoon.

It meant fans had to chose between three matches being played simultaneously across Rod Laver Arena, Margaret Court Arena ad John Caine Arena.

Renowned tennis journalist and commentator José Morgado joined the chorus of criticism earlier in the day.

Coco Gauff wrapped up early. Picture: Mark Stewart.

“Four Women’s matches scheduled for today and three will happen simultaneously. Tragic scheduling,” Morgado wrote on X.

American tennis great Pam Shriver also noted the scheduling of women’s matches in the lower-profile time slots.

“What is going on with AO scheduling?” the former world No. 3 posted on X.

“Is it a race to get women’s matches out of the way as early as possible on all courts?”

The Tennis Podcast’s Catherine Whittaker said of the day eight schedule: “It has a real ‘let’s get the women out of the way’ flavour about it.”

Originally published as Novak Djokovic’s never seen before move stuns tennis