The world number one had few problems on the court, dismissing seventh seed Berdych 6-3 7-5 6-3 to reach his sixth successive semi-final at Roland Garros.
However, but for the quick reactions of a line judge, he might have found himself sensationally being defaulted.
After missing a break point early in the third set, Djokovic bounced his racket angrily on the ground and then looked round in horror as it flew towards a line judge.
The official dodged out of the way and the racket hit the back fence. Djokovic was full of apologies and knew things could have ended differently.
David Nalbandian was famously disqualified during the final at Queen’s Club in 2012 after kicking an advertising hoarding into a line judge’s shin.
Djokovic was testy when discussing the subject, saying: “It’s obvious what I tried to do. I threw a racket on the ground and it slipped and almost hit the line umpire. I was lucky there. That’s all.”
Angry @DjokerNole throw his racquet and almost hit a line judge
— Break Point Brasil (@BreakPointBR) June 2, 2016
Djokovic joga a raquete, quase acerta juiz de linha pic.twitter.com/S4RS4EJ0jn
He will now face Dominic Thiem in the semi-finals as the Australian cemented his status as tennis’ coming man by beating David Goffin 4-6 7-6 (9/7) 6-4 6-1.
Only Djokovic has won more matches this year than the 22-year-old, who will break into the top 10 for the first time on Monday.
In the women’s tournament, Serena Williams survived a major scare to move to within two wins of tying Steffi Graf’s Open era record of 22 grand slam singles titles.
Williams headed into the quarter-finals as a huge favourite to successfully defend her title but was panicky throughout the first two sets against 60th-ranked Yulia Putintseva and was lucky to escape with a 5-7 6-4 6-1 victory.
In the last four, Williams will play another unseeded player in Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens, who continued her remarkable run by upsetting eighth seed Timea Bacsinszky 7-5 6-2.
