"Forehand maybe was his weaker shot but he has improved that as well. "He's on a big winning streak," Djokovic said. I don't expect anything easy in terms of his physical abilities on Sunday."ĭjokovic, meanwhile, has huge respect for the run his opponent has made over the last few months and is well aware of his defensive qualities and relentless consistency from the back of the court. (The) next matches were for sure not easy. I actually thought he was going to lose because we saw he was in pain," Medvedev said. Medvedev has only dropped one set this fortnight, while the world No 1 has lost three sets due in part to that abdominal injury he suffered in the third round against Taylor Fritz and spent more than four hours longer on court than the Russian. Another close affair looks on the cards today. So lucky that it helped carry Djokovic all the way to an 18th major title – and an incredible ninth at Melbourne Park.ĭjokovic was two sets to one down against Dominic Thiem in last year's final before steering himself out of danger and winning an eighth title. “At the end, it became a lucky charm,” Ivanisevic said. As his coach Goran Ivanisevic revealed, the whole team was so downbeat about his prospects after the tear that they started undergoing a Covid test before each round, in case they had to fly home the next day.
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And as the days passed, he became more comfortable in carrying an injury that – according to one former pro who has experienced it – is more mentally exhausting than physically incapacitating.Įven so, Djokovic demonstrated enormous fortitude to win five matches with a damaged abdomen. But his game is so complete that he can compensate with other areas. To this observer, it was obvious that Djokovic’s forehand was well short of its usual potency in his fourth-round match against Milos Raonic. But, hey, it's not the first nor the last time.”
I just felt like it was a bit unfair at times. I mean, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I know there's been a lot of speculations, people questioning whether I'm injured, how can I recover so quickly, it's impossible to do that.
I felt it right away when it happened against Fritz in the third round. “It is a tear of the abdominal oblique muscle. Or Toni Nadal, who suggested that his stomach injury had mysteriously “disappeared overnight”.ĭjokovic offered some more detail on that issue. People like Nick Kyrgios, who called him a “tool” for demanding easier quarantine conditions for the 72 players hard lockdown. Unusually in a sport that can be stultifyingly polite, some of Djokovic’s critics have been insiders.
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But I think I've developed a thick skin over the years to just dodge those things and focus on what matters to me.” I don't enjoy when somebody attacks me in the media openly. “I'm a human being like yourself, like anybody else. “Of course it hurts,” he added, with reference to the criticism directed at him in particular. At the beginning we didn't feel so welcome, judging by what media was writing about tennis players and being here.
A lot of mixed emotions, with the media, tennis players getting here in the midst of pandemic. “Injury, off-the-court stuff, quarantines. “This has been definitely emotionally the most challenging grand slam that I ever had,” said Djokovic later, as he sat behind the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup in the interview room. When you consider that his rallying skills were already way ahead of the pack, it’s increasingly hard to find a fault-line in his game. Alarmingly for Djokovic’s rivals, he has shown up in Australia with his serve in career-best shape, sending down a tournament-leading total of 103 aces across the seven rounds. And yet there was more to it than simple obduracy.
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