Novak Djokovic appeared to be in pain in his first tournament of the new season. A right-hand wrist injury hampered his chances of winning the Quarter-finals of the United Cup against the Australian, Alex de Minaur.
Later, Djokovic and his coach Goran Ivanisevic chimed in on the injury and both suggested that the player would be ready to go by the time, the Australian Open rolled around.
In what seems to be a wrist sprain that caused him pain in his last two matches, the assurances from both Novak and Goran give positive signs. It seems like it is not a major incident that could rule him out of the first Grand Slam of the year.
The Tennis world, however, mocked The World No. 1 for another injury in a very familiar fashion. Novak has had injury scares before this year as well, where he seems to be injured but then makes a miraculous return from it.
Last year during the Australian Open, he suffered from a hamstring injury but managed to lift the title once again. The timing and history of his current injury have sparked speculation and mockery from many tennis fans, who think that the Serb ‘fakes’ his injuries to receive sympathy from fans.
Here’s what some people had to say about Novak’s wrist injury, which happened during the United Cup match.
“Death, taxes and Djokovic coming into AO with an injury”
Some Rafael Nadal fans pointed to the return of the Spaniard as to why the World No. 1 might be scared and would have faked it.
“Rafa ain’t been back 1 whole week and this guy already shaking 😭”
Another fan accused him of stealing other player’s thunder and not giving them their due credit.
“All I’ve heard is one injury excuse after another. Novak hates losing and giving credit where it is due.”
Other fans had a similar response as well.
When Nadal has injuries, he forfeited the whole tournament and it clearly shows his injury is real, I'm not talking about this game, going to toilet and fake injury happened more for Novak than any other player and it's an infamous thing in tennis community and everyone knows it
— Farbod (@FarbodobraF) January 3, 2024
Huh???
— Linda 🐳 (@lindar_lou) January 3, 2024
Rafa was out injured for a year…and 6 months before that.
I would love it if Novak disappeared from tennis for 18 months in 3 years. But Novak's injuries are fake and recovery happens in the SAME tournament so he gets praise for "winning it with a 3cm abdominal tear" 🙄
“Is Novak Djokovic hurting his legacy with constant fake injuries?”, Former Australian player John Alexander and other netizens question Novak’s legacy due to ‘fake’ injuries.
Former Australian player, John Alexander, questioned Novak Djokovic‘s ‘fake’ injuries and said that it will hurt his legacy and reputation in the long run.
Talking to the ABC Tennis Podcast on ABC News, Alexander criticized the Serbian for using strategic medical timeouts and claimed that he often ‘fakes’ injuries to get into his opponent’s minds.
“The injury timeouts — if there is a question mark over his greatness in his entire career, it’s the way he has, in many people’s minds, strategically used injury timeouts.”
“After the loss of the second set, take an injury timeout to have his wrist massaged for some five minutes, breaking the opponent’s concentration, maybe having thoughts entering into his opponent’s head ‘gee maybe he’ll default, I’m all over for the night’. Then he picks himself up, wins the next five games, wins that third set 6-1.”
Netizens over Twitter also questioned Novak’s legacy case, with constant rumors of ‘fake’ injuries.
