The world No. 1, who was eliminated from the tournament he was a big favorite to win, and while he has made clear that he never intended for his hit out in frustration to strike an official, he admitted he couldn’t go as far as to promise not to repeat the incident in the future.
“It’s not completely out of the blue,” Djokovic told the media at the Italian Open.
“I cannot promise or cannot guarantee that I will never ever do anything similar to that in my life.
“I’m going to try my best, obviously, but anything is possible in life.
“The rules are clear. I accepted it and had to move on. That’s what I did.”
Trailing in his fourth-round match against Pablo Carreno Busta, the frustrated Serbian sent a ball flying towards the back of the court, where it struck a female line judge at high speed.
The incident saw Djokovic disqualified from the match and the tournament as he left New York without facing the media at the post-match press conference.
He later posted an apology on Instagram and called the line judge to check on her condition after the tournament.
The Serb, who has won the Italian Open four times before in his career, returns to action at the tournament this week when he faces either Italian wildcard Salvatore Curaso or a tournament qualifier.
