Famous Swiss nutritionist Jurg Hosli has blamed 12-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic’s diet for his ongoing struggles on the tennis court.
Djokovic, who underwent a minor operation in February to get rid of his elbow problems, has been struggling to find his form, experiencing a series of early exits in each of the tournaments he has participated. His latest setback came at the Barcelona Open last week, where he lost in the opening round. His other notable defeats have been in the first rounds of the Indian Wells Masters, the Miami Open and in the quarter-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters.
The Serb has managed to win only 5 of his 10 matches in 2018 and Hosli claims that the former World No. 1 is suffering from an ‘eating disorder’, which is preventing him from regaining his touch.
“I always admired Djokovic for his game, attitude, his way to move on the court,” Hosli wrote on Facebook.
“But when I recently listened that he had made drastic changes in his diet, I asked myself when the crisis would come.
“What we are seeing are the results of anorexia that can be defined as the obsession for a diet based only on apparent healthy food.
“Djokovic looked for a radical solution in his diet without considering the long-term consequences.
“And reducing carbohydrates and totally avoiding the sugar is a big error.
“At the beginning you feel stronger because cells start to store more oxygen but muscles produce less and less lactic acid.
“The moment when he starts losing the possibility to produce and burn lactic, results are dramatic.
“He will feel even worse when he reaches the limit of his strength, he will suffer stress issues as the quality of sleep decreases and a social isolation of the person gets produced.
“What happens to Djokovic is that he has a total anaerobic metabolism caused by his diet that can only conduct physical and psychological fatigue.”
