The top-ranked Serb was broken to love in the sixth game of the second set following which he threw his racket on the ground, drawing a warning from the chair umpire.

“Well, let me tell you it’s not the first nor the last racket that I’ll break in my career,” Djokovic, 33, told reporters. “I have done it before, I’ll probably do it again. I don’t want to do it, but when it comes, it happens.

“That’s how I guess I release sometimes my anger. And it’s definitely not the best message out there, especially for the young tennis players looking at me.”

The Serb was disqualified from the U.S. Open after inadvertently hitting a ball into a line judge’s throat during his fourth-round match against Pablo Carreno Busta.

“I don’t encourage that, definitely. But, look, we’re all people. We all do our best. There were times and periods when I don’t do that, and there are periods when I do,” he said.

Djokovic, who apologised at the time and vowed to take away valuable lessons from the US Open incident, reiterated that he was working on his “mental and emotional health” to try and help keep a lid on his emotions.

 [Sourced from Reuters]