World no. 1 Novak Djokovic has a likeable sense of humour. In the past, we have seen him imitate Maria Sharapova on the court, and get into funny exchanges with journalists. But he has his share of angry moments, too. In last year’s US Open, he accidentally hit a line judge in the throat with a ball. He only wanted to vent his anger by smashing the ball, but ended up making a bad day worse.

Yesterday, in his Italian Open round of 32 clash versus Taylor Fritz, he snapped at umpire Nacho Forcadell while the playing conditions were deteriorating due to heavy rain in Rome. “How much more do you want to play? I asked you three times and you are not checking anything,” Djokovic told the umpire.

Djokovic had turned bitter when the umpire had asked the players to continue despite poor weather conditions, while Djokovic was serving for a win at 5-4 in the second set. Soon after, the game was suspended for three hours.

Djokovic, who had returned to the court after skipping the recently concluded Madrid Open, beat Fritz in straight sets. After the match, he said, “I was stressed out in the end obviously, but I think it was the right call to stop the match. When I came back, I thought we were quite even actually till the last point. I'm glad that I managed to finish off this match in straight sets. I know I can play better.”

Djokovic was kind enough to apologise to Forcadell after the match. In the round of 16, he will play Spain's Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who beat Britain's Cameron Norrie 6-2, 6-3 in the round of 32.