The good news for Novak Djokovic is that he knows the full details about an injury that threatens to derail his historic Australian Open bid. But the bad news is that it could cost him dearly in the weeks to come.
On the Rod Laver Arena the world No.1 valiantly battled to a four-set win over Milos Raonic in a late-night encounter on Sunday to record his 300th Grand Slam win. A milestone that has only ever been achieved by Roger Federer in the Open Era on the ATP Tour. Although his latest victory has been overshadowed by concerns related to an injury that started to trouble the Serbian on Friday.
During his third round encounter with Taylor Fritz Djokovic looked to be in serious discomfort with pain located in his abdominal area. It was so bad that he admitted afterwards that he considered retiring from the match. However, he opted to play through the pain and take a day of rest prior to beating Raonic in his latest encounter.
“I had different treatments with different devices. You know, pills, painkillers and stuff like this with the medical team of Tennis Australia and Australian Open, that definitely helped a lot,” Djokovic said about how he is managing the situation.
Initially, it was reported that the 17-time Grand Slam champion had suffered a muscle tear but that has since been dismissed by some. Whilst there were glimpses of pain on his face whilst playing Raonic, he still managed to race around the court and illustrate his athletic abilities. Djokovic knows the exact injury he is dealing with but refuses to publicly disclose what it is. Adding to the mystery as to how significant of a threat the issue is.
“I did an MRI, I did everything, I know what it is, but I don’t want to talk about it now. I’m still in the tournament,” he explained.
“I tried to use every single hour possibly to recover and give myself at least a little bit of a chance to step on the court, which I have done.’
“As I said on the court, if I’m part of any other tournament other than a Grand Slam, I definitely wouldn’t be playing. But it’s a Grand Slam. It matters a lot to me at this stage of my career, of course. I want to do everything possible in this very short amount of time to get on the court.”
So what is publicly known about the injury? Well the 33-year-old said he has taping on his abdomen before adding ‘I guess where that (the issue) is.’ That was as far as he went to confirm a diagnosis.
The world No.1 has been told by a medical team that his decision to continue playing with the undisclosed injury is a ‘gamble’ but with a shot of closing on another record at stake he is prepared to take the risk. Djokovic is currently three major titles away from equalling the all-time record of 20. An accolade currently held by both Rafael Nadal and Federer. Out of the Big Three Djokovic is the youngest of them.
The determination to chase major glory could have an impact on Djokovic’s season ahead. He has been advised by medical professionals that the chances of the injury ending his season completely are ‘very slim’ but there is a stronger chance it could force a change in his scheduling commitments over the coming months.
“They all share the opinion that there is a slight, very slight, slim chance that I will do significant damage that would take me out of the tour for some extended period of time. There is always a risk that the injury will get worse, but they don’t think it’s going to be very significantly worse that it’s going to jeopardize my entire season,” he said.
“It will jeopardize depending on how I go here certain tournaments that are coming after Australian Open that I was maybe thinking to play. So I’ll probably have to take a little bit more time than I was previously thinking and heal, recover, and then get back on the tour.”
Djokovic will play Alexander Zverev in the quarter-finals on Tuesday.
