Novak Djokovic has been fined thousands of pounds for smashing his tennis racket against a net post during the Wimbledon final.

The seven-time champion was handed a £6,117 ($8,000) penalty for “racket abuse” during Sunday’s match which he lost to Spanish 20-year-old Carlos Alcaraz.

A frustrated Djokovic, 36, walloped the post in the deciding fifth and final set after his serve was broken in the third game to go 2-1 down.

The racket was left a twisted mess as his fury led to booing from the Centre Court crowd and earned him a code violation from chair umpire Fergus Murphy.

The defending Wimbledon men’s singles champion had earlier received a time violation for taking too long to serve.

Alcaraz, the world number one, went on to win the thrilling clash 1-6 7-6 6-1 3-6 6-4 after four hours and 42 minutes.

In doing so, he denied his opponent a 24th grand slam title – and an eighth victory at Wimbledon which would have put him on level terms with Roger Federer at SW19.

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After the final, Djokovic played down the racket incident.

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He said: “There’s not much to talk about that. [It] was frustration. I had break points in the second game. Yeah, just a tough, tough couple of points.

“He played amazing to break my serve, which was enough to win the fifth [set].”

Pressed on the incident again in the same news conference, the Serbian said: “It was a frustration in the moment.

“I answered to your colleague two minutes ago about that. There’s not much to say about that.”

It is not the first time that Djokovic has been caught up in a racket controversy.

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At the 2020 US Open, he was thrown out of the tournament after accidentally hitting a line judge with a ball during his match against Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta.

The Serbian was fined $10,000 and also had to forfeit the $250,000 prize money he was due to receive for reaching the fourth round, as well as losing his ranking points.

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