MELBOURNE, Australia – The grimace on Novak Djokovic’s face after slipping on the white letter “MELBOURNE” behind the baseline at Rod Laver Arena was enough to suggest that the world’s No. 1 chances of defending his title at the Australian Open had just been a serious success.
In the third round at Melbourne Park on February 12, Djokovic seemed to be heading for a straight set victory over American Taylor Fritz when he fell uncomfortable and immediately signaled for the coach. After lasting an extended medical time, Djokovic returned to court, but appeared significantly obstructed in his movement and experienced severe pain.
The 17th major champion sat continuously on the right side of his abdomen, often trying to stretch it between points. He frequently grimaced as he tracked down balls, giving up many that were hit a few feet on either side of the racket.
In the blink of an eye, Fritz tied the game at two sets and for the first time in the tournament there should have been a real concern at Djokovic’s field. But the Serb took the decisive lead 6-2, letting out a giant roar inside the center field when he reached the game point after three hours and 25 minutes.
“I know it’s a muscle tear, no doubt,” a deflated Djokovic said immediately after the match. “I don’t know if I will be able to recover in less than two days. I’m not sure if I will be able to play the next game.”
There has still been a proper diagnosis about Djokovic, 33, who has made his health the biggest mystery of the Australian Open mid-weekend. The question remains: would he be able to continue looking for the ninth record crown of Down Under and if not, who would raise and lift the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup?
Much of the post-victory speculation about Fritz was that the muscle Djokovic had injured was his right oblique, one of two diagonally oriented abdominal muscles running from the rib cage to the anterior trunk or pelvis. These muscles have an extreme amount of stress in sports that require high rotation, such as tennis. And few, if any, in this sport put more strain and strain on their body than Djokovic.
The average person takes eight to ten weeks to fully recover from an oblique sprain, according to Harvard Medical School, but Djokovic only had 48 hours to hit his fourth-round game against the finalist. Wimbledon, Milos Raonic, 2016.
Djokovic was absent from the venue on the 6th, but returned on Sunday for a light gym session, which consisted of stretching and jogging, before stepping on the John Cain Arena for an afternoon workout.
A few hours later, he squeaked and slipped through the Rod Laver Arena, once again mimicking the defensive qualities of a brick wall and leaving Raonic scratching his head in a combination of disbelief and frustration. It is possible that Djokovic wore a large anti-inflammatory patch on the right side of his abdomen, but suddenly he looked more like the player we have become accustomed to seeing over the years. If the fans hadn’t known his downfall in the previous game, they would never have imagined he was suffering a potentially serious injury.
Djokovic needed just under three hours to send Raonic 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, record his 300th Grand Slam victory and advance to the quarterfinals at the Open d ‘Australia for 12th time record. How could he handle such a feat with what he believes to be a torn oblique?
“The term‘ muscle tear ’can often cause alarms, but they’re usually scalable and range from one to three,” said Stephania Bell, ESPN injury analyst. “Grade 1, which could be, suggests little or no structural damage and, although painful, may not adversely affect function. Sometimes an athlete may feel a saving or a pull and this is what makes them refer- a tear to this.
“A full tear would probably keep you from playing, given the pain and functional commitment. Things that require power, like serving, and things that put your muscles in an extreme stretch, such as stretching wide to get a shot, maybe even and all the cross shots would be a challenge for Djokovic if he had a full-blown oblique tear. “
Following the victory against Raonic, Djokovic confirmed that he had undergone an MRI in Melbourne and that he now knows the extent of the injury, although again he did not provide any specific details. As long as he remains standing in the tournament, he is unwilling to share his diagnosis with his rivals.
“I understand you want to know, but I really don’t want to get into what it is,” he told reporters. “It’s not ideal for me. I mean, I definitely felt better. The combination of painkillers, treatment and some willpower [is getting me through], but I don’t want to talk about it now. It’s irrelevant. “
Djokovic’s ability to recover in such a short period of time and then overtake Raonic is something that has caught the attention of many around the tour, including Serena Wiliams ’longtime coach Patrick Mouratoglou.
“Sometimes Novak plays with an opponent’s mind when he has problems,” Mouratoglou told Tennis Majors. “He pretends to give up, and then boom. He plays again. He’s done it many times in the past.”
Former Australian doubles icon Todd Woodbridge also stepped in and said, “He’ll be fine. I’d say the rest of the field, be careful, because we’ve seen him do this kind of thing before, have a bit of a hiccup and still win big “.
It’s not the first time Djokovic has had to fight for an injury in a Grand Slam. At Wimbledon in 2017, he struggled with an annoying elbow discomfort, although he still reached the quarterfinals.
At the 2019 US Open, he retired in the fourth round after an injury to his left shoulder had improved him, while at last year’s tournament in New York he struggled with neck stiffness to reach the fourth. round. He fell just one set in his first three games before being unpaid for hitting a line person in the throat in his eighth draw against Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta.
Djokovic will now face Alexander Zverev, who defeated No. 23 seed Dusan Lajovic in straight sets, with the winner in the semifinals. As the extent of Djokovic’s injury is still a mystery, there is no guarantee that he will be fit to face the German, although many had similar thoughts before his match against Raonic.
“If it was another tournament, I would retire. I definitely wouldn’t play,” Djokovic said. “But it’s a Grand Slam. I care a lot at this stage of my career. I have to accept the circumstances and the state I’m in right now and I’ll probably feel pain all the time.
“Against Sascha, there will probably be more rallies, strenuous rallies. He will be demanding for my side, really from the bottom of the field. It is in the hands of God where my situation goes from today to the first point against Sascha [but] if I feel 10%, I like my chances. “
If Djokovic has broken his oblique, regardless of the degree of injury, it will be a case of management, rather than having him completely healed before the tournament is over.
“Most of the time that passes between the victim of the original injury and the next round will be spent in recovery, receiving treatment,” Bell said. “Given the demands of a Grand Slam tournament, balancing recovery while maintaining conditioning and willingness to play will be the challenge.”
Djokovic’s record on the Melbourne Park blue courts is 76-5, and the post-quarter of the round is an even more impressive 24-3. Even with 75% health, Djokovic would still be favored to beat almost everyone left on his way to the 18th Slam.