Novak Djokovic erupts at Wimbledon umpire as Tim Henman left stunned over 'hindrance' call

Novak Djokovic wasn't happy when he was called for hindrance during his Wimbledon semi-final against Jannik Sinner. The second seed grunted during an exchange while leading 2-1 in the second set and the umpire stopped the point - a call Djokovic didn't agree with. The 23-time Major champion crouched to his knees in disbelief before approaching the official's chair and asking what he was doing.

Djokovic is bidding for a spot in the Wimbledon final as he faces Sinner - the young Italian who led him by two-sets-to-love at SW19 last year before falling in five. The world No 2 got off to a stronger start this time around, taking a commanding set-and-a-break lead in under an hour as they met in the first men's semi-final.

But there was confusion with the Serb serving at 15-15 while leading 2-1 in the second set as he grunted a few seconds after hitting a backhand, with the noise being called as a hindrance by chair umpire Richard Haigh. Djokovic was visibly taken aback by the decision and approached the chair, asking: "What are you doing?"

Commentators on the BBC were also stunned by the call, with Tim Henman saying: "I've never seen that before." Todd Woodbridge added: "I feel like Richard's been waiting to make that call for a while."

But the retired doubles legend admitted that it was a harsh call. "I'm not sure that it's worth him interjecting into the match like he has just done," he said.

"I think that maybe could have been a word to Novak at the changeover to just be aware before giving that. That's rough." There was more drama when Djokovic was also given a time violation during the game and faced a break point.

But the second seed was able to survive the calls against him and fended off the 21-year-old to hold serve and extend his lead to 3-1. It was the fourth break point chance the world No 8 had in the match but he was unable to convert any of them.