Aussie tennis star Nick Kyrgios claims he would be banned for years, if he hit a ball at a line judge like Novak Djokovic at the US Open on Monday (NZ time).
After dropping serve in the first set against Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta, Djokovic took a ball out of his pocket and hit it behind him in frustration, striking the female judge in her throat.
The overwhelming favourite to win his 18th Grand Slam title was automatically disqualified as a result of his rash swipe.
Most commentators agree with the decision, including tennis legend Billie Jean King, but none seem to enjoy it more than Kyrgios, who tweeted he would be hammered if he'd pulled the same move.
Kyrgios polled his Twitter followers, asking how many years he would be banned for. Of three possible answers - five, 10 or 20 years - the latter had received 55 percent of the 42,000 votes after just an hour.
A strong hatred has brewed between Kyrgios and Djokovic for some time.
Last month, Kyrgios accused Djokovic of lacking "leadership and humility", after organising a tournament in Europe during the coronavirus pandemic and ignoring social distancing precautions.
Several players, coaches and wives - including Djokovic himself - tested positive afterwards, and he apologised for his recklessness.
"Prayers up to all the players that have contracted COVID-19," Kyrgios tweeted. "Don't @ me for anything I've done that has been 'irresponsible' or classified as 'stupidity' - this takes the cake."
Under Grand Slam rules, this isn't the first time a player has hit an official and been disqualified.
According to the Telegraph, the last player defaulted at a Grand Slam was Austrian Stefan Koubek, who threw his racquet and accidentally hit a ball boy at the 2000 French Open.
Carreno Busta has no issues with the outcome, saying "rules are rules", although he did not believe his opponent did it intentionally.
German Alexander Zverev, who won his fourth-round match earlier in the day, was asked about the incident, as he suddenly became one of the tournament favourites, saying Djokovic was "unlucky".
"It's very unfortunate it hit the line judge, especially where it hit [her]," he says. "There's a rule in place... but yeah, very unlucky for Novak.
"I think he's going to be a little bit upset about it.
"Had it landed anywhere else, I mean talking about a few inches, he would have been fine. Very unlucky."
