Distractions via crowd noise are common in tennis but Novak Djokovic found himself distracted by something rather unusual during his semi final clash against Jeremy Chardy of France at the Rogers Cup this weekend – the smell of cannabis.
Prior to advancing to the final he told the umpire:
“Someone is smoking weed, I can smell it, and I’m getting dizzy. Somebody is getting high. Can you smell it? The whole place smells of it.”
Later, in a post match interview, he addressed the matter once more saying:
“You can’t believe how bad it was. Whoever it is, he’s pretty high and I hope he doesn’t come back tomorrow. Because it’s a pretty bad smell. I didn’t enjoy it.”
The drug-fuelled distraction wasn’t the only one Djokovic faced during the tournament as he said he had smelt it during his doubles win on Friday. He joked:
“Somebody’s really enjoying his life around the tennis court, I think it stopped after a while. I felt I was playing better as I was inhaling!”
You check out his reaction in the video below:
Djokovic went on to lose in the final yesterday to Britain’s Andy Murray who has now moved up to 2nd in the world rankings. The Scot defeated the world number one 6-4 4-6 6-3 to earn his fourth title of the year, and put an end to his losing streak against the Serb which began back in 2013. He also dedicated the win to his coach Amelie Mauresmo, who just hours earlier gave birth to a baby boy.
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