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For years now, we've seen Grand Slam tennis dominated by Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

In fact, you need to go all the way back to 2016 for the last time a Major was won by someone outside of the Big Three.

All that has finally changed.

Novak Djokovic - top seed and tournament favourite at the ongoing US Open - has been disqualified from the event.

He was kicked out for accidentally hitting and injuring a line judge, after striking the ball in anger during his fourth round tie against Pablo Careno Busta.

Top-seeded Novak Djokovic was defaulted from his fourth-round match at the #USOpen after he accidentally hit a line judge with a tennis ball Sunday. pic.twitter.com/TTstxZB2Jw

— ESPN (@espn) September 6, 2020

While he certainly didn't mean to hit the judge, it was clearly in violation of tournament rules, resulting in Djokovic's expulsion.

The Serbian superstar took to Instagram to apologise for his actions:

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This whole situation has left me really sad and empty. I checked on the lines person and the tournament told me that thank God she is feeling ok. I‘m extremely sorry to have caused her such stress. So unintended. So wrong. I’m not disclosing her name to respect her privacy. As for the disqualification, I need to go back within and work on my disappointment and turn this all into a lesson for my growth and evolution as a player and human being. I apologize to the @usopen tournament and everyone associated for my behavior. I’m very grateful to my team and family for being my rock support, and my fans for always being there with me. Thank you and I’m so sorry. Cela ova situacija me čini zaista tužnim i praznim. Proverio sam kako se oseća linijski sudija, i prema informacijama koje sam dobio, oseća se dobro, hvala Bogu. Njeno ime ne mogu da otkrijem zbog očuvanja njene privatnosti. Jako mi je žao što sam joj naneo takav stres. Nije bilo namerno. Bilo je pogrešno. Želim da ovo neprijatno iskustvo, diskvalifikaciju sa turnira, pretvorim u važnu životnu lekciju, kako bih nastavio da rastem i razvijam se kao čovek, ali i teniser. Izvinjavam se organizatorima US Opena. Veoma sam zahvalan svom timu i porodici što mi pružaju snažnu podršku, kao i mojim navijačima jer su uvek uz mene. Hvala vam i žao mi je. Bio je ovo težak dan za sve.

A post shared by Novak Djokovic (@djokernole) on Sep 6, 2020 at 3:58pm PDT

Enter the Next-Gen

This will come as a huge relief for the next generation of players like Alexander Zverev, Dominic Thiem and Daniil Medvedev.

With Djokovic out of the US Open (and Nadal and Federer both absent) there won't be a better opportunity for one of the Next-Gen crop to finally move out of the Big Three's shadow.

This point was not lost on Zverev, who was quick to respond to the latest development.

"There's going to be a new Grand Slam champion. That's all I know right now. There's no past Grand Slam champions left in the draw."

"Now I think is the time where it gets really interesting. I know who is where in the draw. I know who I can play. I know who the rest of the guys can play. Yeah. We'll see where we go from here."

Zverev is already through to the quarterfinals, while Thiem and Medvedev are both in the last-16.

Whatever happens from here, it will definitely be one for the history books.

by Nicholas Darren John