New Zealand tennis star Marcus Daniell has fired a broadside at world No 1 Novak Djokovic, accusing the Serbian of being "incredibly disrespectful" to the ATP tournament in Majorca.
Daniell and his Austrian partner Philipp Oswald were preparing to face fourth seeds Maximo Gonzalez and Simone Bolelli in the semifinals on Friday. But after Djokovic and Carlos Gomez-Herrera won their semi against third seeds Oliver Marach and Aisam-Ul-Haq-Qureshi, they pulled out of the final shortly after the match, with Gomez-Herrera citing an ankle injury.
The withdrawal means Daniell and Oswald's semifinal will now be played on Saturday night (NZT) - delayed a day. The winners of the match will claim the title.
Daniell doesn't believe the duo's reason for withdrawing, saying in his view it's more likely to be about Djokovic getting to Wimbledon earlier to prepare for his title defence.
"I really don't have any respect for that move. If he didn't want to be here until the end of the tournament then he shouldn't have played it, in my opinion," Daniell said.