'I was stunned': Andy Roddick claims Djokovic near-miss with ball kid 'way worse' than US Open default

Former world No.1 Andy Roddick says Novak Djokovic's angry swipe at the ball and near miss of a ball kid was "way worse" than his actions at the 2020 US Open.

Late in the second set of his third-round clash at the Australian Open, and leading 4-2 against Botic van de Zandschulp, Djokovic reacted to a lost point by lashing a ball to the left of the court.

The shot whistled agonisingly close to the ball kid at the net post in a moment that could have become the biggest story of the tournament.

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The incident carried extra weight given Djokovic's disqualification from the 2020 US Open, where he was sent packing after accidentally striking a line judge in the throat with a ball.

During his post-match press conference, Djokovic acknowledged that his outburst was a mistake.

Speaking to The Serve podcast, Roddick, a four-time semi-finalist at Melbourne Park, said the situation on Saturday night, would have been a lot worse had the ball made contact.

And the fact that he had a walkover in the last round leaves the 38-year-old in surprisingly good shape.

"Novak was an inch away from not being in this competition anymore. And now, all of a sudden, he's got a walkover and a fresh body. He hasn't had this fresh a body, this deep in a slam, in I don't know how long. He almost hit a person again," he said.

"I was stunned. Watching it back I was like, 'oh my god it almost happened again.' This one was worse but I am happy that he wasn't kicked out of a tournament.

"That's an instant default, especially given the track record.

"There's no umpire that doesn't default him for hitting the side ball kid, not the back one.

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"2020 is way more forgivable. Way more forgivable. The side one he's lucky and then [Jakub] Mensik (withdrew from their scheduled fourth round clash). All of a sudden he goes from 'I'm almost defaulted' to 'I'm in the quarters with a fresh body'."

Roddick went on to explain why he thought Djokovic's frustrated swipe that almost struck the ball kid was a less forgivable incident than his famous US Open default.

"Everyone was super pissed because in 2020 when he got defaulted at the US Open because he did the same thing, and this one in Australia, just think about this… the one in Australia was way worse," Roddick said.

"He was looking forward. The one at the US Open, he hit it backwards. It's a one in a million shot that it hits someone in the throat. I've done what he did at the US Open a thousand times.

"This one, where he pulls it and slaps it and it hits a ball kid like that. That was worse to me than the one at… but you put yourself in position to have a judgement levied on you."

While Djokovic made the same mistake that led to his exit in 2020, Roddick said there was a stark difference between the way he dealt with the default at Flushing Meadows, and what happened on Saturday night.

"One of the differences, one of the main things from the [US] Open however long ago, five or six years ago at this point: I felt bad for him because, like I said, we've all done this thing: we've all slapped a ball around, we have," Roddick conceded.

"He left without doing press, and just left (in 2020). This time he went in, and I've said this before on the show, if someone goes in and says 'it's my fault, there are no excuses, I need to be better, I messed up, I'm sorry,' what are we going to say? It's very different than 2020.

"That was my main… the only thing I could disagree with was, you made a huge mistake, there's this huge controversy, you got to go take the heat. You don't just leave, right? This time he went in and took the heat."