Novak Djokovic had tape all over his neck and appeared to struggle with a left-arm issue in the first two sets of his French Open quarterfinal match against Pablo Carreno Busta on Wednesday.
The world No. 1 said afterward that he picked up an injury during pre-match practice and was almost forced to withdraw.
“I had an incident in warmup today,” Djokovic explained following his four-set win. “My physio Miljan (Amanovic) and the ATP doctor Poli have been working on my neck for two hours trying to make me fit enough to play. I have to admit, it was touch and go for a while; I was not sure whether I would be able to play. In the end we managed to sort it out.
“I do not want to go into too much detail as I am still in the tournament. Is there time for me to recover? Yes, there is.”
Carreno Busta is no longer in the tournament, and he had some parting words about Djokovic’s condition.
“Probably the last (few) years he’s always doing this when he has problems on court,” the Spaniard said. “I don’t know, maybe it’s the pressure or something that he needs to do. But he continues playing normal, no? I don’t know if he’s in pain really or if [it is] mental.”
He continued in Spanish, which translated as, “Every time the game gets complicated, he asks for medical assistance. He’s been doing this for a long time. I already knew that. I knew it would happen at the US Open, that it would happen here, and that it would continue.”
Carreno Busta added that he did not care and was unaffected, since he expected it to happen. In fact, he said he was glad Djokovic was showing that kind of vulnerability because it meant Carreno Busta was giving him trouble.
The top-seeded Serb will face Stefanos Tsitsipas in Friday’s semifinals.
thoughts?
PCB is exactly right…Joker always playing “rope a dope”…a tactic that is growing old. Tpas in 4; Rafa in 3.
thoughts?!?
Hmm. He did seem to be stiff and in pain at the start of the match. With that being said, it’s getting to be a bit of a habit when PCB is playing well against him. I understand why he was annoyed.
Good for PCB, calling it like he sees it. I have thoughts, but nothing conclusive. Maybe NoVax only feels pain when he’s losing. It’s certainly possible. Deep concentration is a kind of anesthetic. In fact it’s what lets Rafa play at all most of the time. Maybe struggling breaks NoVax’ focus. Maybe he’s guilty as charged and calls the time outs to break the other guy’s concentration. I don’t know. But I don’t think he’s pulled this crap against Rafa, at least not in the past few years. (I never watch NoVax play any more unless it’s Rafa beating up on him. I really dislike pretty much everything about him.)
Great article on this topic:
https://tennisbuzz.net/analysis-why-the-facts-struggle-to-support-medical-time-out-accusations-against-novak-djokovic/
I can’t remember which RG final it was when Djokovic was supposed to have an injured right wrist and the day before the match he tweeted a picture of himself with the right arm plastered up to his elbow, but he turned up for the match with no support on the wrist played normally and lost.
I wish I could have the tennis trainers at my disposal because they seem to have magic in their fingers. They can get a player up and running within 3 minutes no matter what the injury is. I’ve had problems with my right shoulder for weeks now and haven’t been able to shift it no matter which ointment I apply.
I injured my shoulder whilst(badly)serving in tennis and it still hurts, and that was about 12 year ago and with kinetherapy included at the time
It’s easy to accuse a player of gamesmanship if they aren’t your favourite,and defend them if they are eg Nadal walked off the court in the RG final at the moment Thiem got the momentum.Having been kept waiting,he promptly lost the momentum and was never the same player.Nadal has certainly used gamesmanship esp.in younger days and he’s not alone
Nadal took a toilet break in this final, yes. It disrupted Thiem’s momentum,yes. Is this gamesmanship? perhaps
Novak frowns, winces, makes everyone think he might even have to retire and then miraculously recovers to win the match. He does this time and time again.
I don’t think both things compare, regardless of whose fan one is.
I didn’t see the Nole match you could be right.The Nadal match was suspect because of the timing,losing a set in an RG final doesn’t happen to him every day.