Regretfully, Novak Djokovic has passed away following the……

After defeating France’s Corentin Moutet 6-3, 6-1 at the Rome Open to reach to the third round on Saturday (AEST), Novak Djokovic was hit with a hard plastic water bottle and was left in excruciating pain.

As he was signing autographs for fans as he left the center court at the Foro Italico, world number one Novak Djokovic was left crouching on the ground in agony after the bottle struck him in the back of the head.

The 24-time Grand Slam winner was subsequently escorted out of the arena on foot by security personnel as he made his way into the lower levels of the spectators.

It was unclear from a footage of the event that was originally released by Italian media whether Djokovic’s head was inadvertently hit by the hard reusable bottle or if it was intentionally thrown from the stands.

The tennis community was outraged by it, and many people at first called the incident “shocking.”

“Very repulsive actions by the person who carried out this,” the well-known X account The Tennis Letter tweeted. “There is a great sadness in the world these days.”

However, another view of the incident seemed to capture the bottle dropping out of a fan’s backpack as he bent to try to acquire an autograph.