Novak Djokovic is representing his home country Serbia at the United Cup happening in Perth right now. The World No. 1 seemed to be in pain during his match against Australian player, Alex de Minaur.
The Serbian had to call a medical time-out earlier on Tuesday as well after the second set of his match against Jiri Lehecka. However, he was able to continue and won the match 6-1 6-7(3) 6-1.
Novak Djokovic seemed to have suffered the same injury again, on the right wrist and asked for a medical timeout once more. However, in the quarter-final bout against Alex de Minaur, he was denied his request and had to continue without it.
The Serbian player seemed furious, and he got into an argument with his coach when he learned that he could only get attention when he’s substituted. This was because it was a recurring injury and not one that had happened on the court for the first time.
“What are you talking about?”
“The more I play, the more it hurts.”
The 36-year-old couldn’t recover from the physical setback as he lost the match to Alex in straight sets 6-4, 6-4. This brought down Novak’s unbeaten run of 43 matches on the Australian soil. Australia went on to defeat Serbia 2-0 to advance to the Semis of The United Cup.
He addressed the medical timeout fiasco and gave insights on the recovery time for his wrist injury.
“I think I’ll be okay, to be honest. You know, it did have quite an impact, you know, particularly on the forehand and serve. Again, I don’t want to be spending too much time talking about it and taking away credit, the victory from de Minaur.”
“Well, I mean, I asked for the medical timeout, but he said that you can’t get medical timeout. You can only get a changeover if the injury is already existing, he explained. So I didn’t understand really what that means.”
"I think I'll be okay." 🤞
— Eurosport (@eurosport) January 3, 2024
Novak Djokovic gives an assessment of his injury after a loss to Alex de Minaur at the #UnitedCup. 🩹 pic.twitter.com/ptPqAxqC2M
Novak said that he is hopeful of playing at the Australian Open in peak condition and that his injury wouldn’t carry over till that time.
“It is what it is for us. I guess we move on, and for me, with my thoughts in Melbourne.”
Novak Djokovic’s coach, Goran Ivanisevic chimes in on the match and his wrist injury
Goran Ivanisevic, the coach of World No. 1 assured the fans about Novak’s injury in an on-court interview.
The Croatian coach appreciated Alex de Minaur’s strategies for the match and congratulated him on the win.
“I think Alex played really well and tactically smart.”
Novak’s coach also gave insight on the wrist injury and what could be expected of him before the Australian Open“
“For sure, he’s gonna take a couple of days off, and then we are gonna start practising slowly but I don’t think it is a big concern. He came here to play a few matches, he did, he played three very good matches… But overall it was a good preparation and this is what needs for Australian Open.”
