{"id":361160,"date":"2024-01-19T20:24:36","date_gmt":"2024-01-19T21:24:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=361160"},"modified":"2024-01-20T00:02:51","modified_gmt":"2024-01-20T00:02:51","slug":"djokovic-reveals-illness-after-covid-sledge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=361160","title":{"rendered":"Djokovic reveals illness after COVID sledge"},"content":{"rendered":"

It wasn't the way he wanted to advance to the fourth round of the Australian Open<\/a> but Novak Djokovic<\/a> took it nonetheless.<\/p>\n

On match point \ufeffahead of his 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (2) victory over Tomas Martin Etcheverry on Friday night at Rod Laver Arena, Djokovic, who was infamously deported from Australia over his COVID-19 vaccination status two years ago, was preparing to serve when a rowdy member of the crowd yelled.<\/p>\n

"Get vaccinated, mate" were the words that rang out according to reports from the venue.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Blessed' world No.1 reflects on journey in milestone match<\/strong><\/a>\ufeff<\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE: \ufeff<\/strong>'A lot left': Great's warning for Demon's fourth round rival<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: \ufeff<\/strong>'I gave it a crack': Cult hero reveals retirement venture<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Laughter and boos could be heard across the stands, and a frustrated Djokovic stepped away from the service line, taking a moment to collect himself before hitting an ace to wrap up the match.<\/p>\n

It was Djokovic's 100th match at the Australian Open, joining Serena Williams and Roger Federer as only the third player in history to reach a century.<\/p>\n

\"Australian<\/p>\n

The Serbian star has battled a mystery illness throughout the first week and has been seen blowing his nose into a tissue in between points, more than once.<\/p>\n

During his post-match press conference\ufeff, Djokovic was asked about his illness and whether he had a COVID-19 test since being in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

"I haven't had a COVID test," Djokovic said. "It's kind of a regular viral infection that I've been through. Now it's in its last stages. I still have some secrete coming out. That's all it is.<\/p>\n

"Definitely much better than what was the case in the first two matches.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 Australian Open live and exclusive on Nine,<\/strong> 9Now<\/strong><\/a> and ad-free on<\/strong> Stan Sport<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

"Coming into the tournament I haven't really felt great health-wise, physically, and also game-wise. It's all connected obviously," he added.<\/p>\n

"I believe that things will progress as the tournament goes on. That's the case tonight and today. Hopefully every day will be better."<\/p>\n

Djokovic improved to 92-8 at Melbourne Park, where he\u2019s won the title 10 times and extended his winning streak to 31 matches.<\/p>\n

Only Roger Federer (117 matches and 102 wins) and Serena Williams (105 matches and 92 wins) have played more matches at the season's first major.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

On top of the virus, Djokovic has been dealing with a sore right wrist. He lost sets in each of the first two rounds against 18-year-old Croatian qualifier Dino Primzic and Alexei Popyrin, when he challenged a heckler to \u201csay that to my face.\u201d<\/p>\n

Against Etcheverry, he didn\u2019t even face a breakpoint.<\/p>\n

Not that No. 30 seed didn\u2019t challenge him, really going for his ground strokes and chasing down drop shots \u2014 to the point where he had to veer off court to avoid the net in the third set and nearly crashed into the umpire\u2019s chair.<\/p>\n

As he got closer to victory, Djokovic started to put his index finger to his ear after each winner, urging more support from the crowd.<\/p>\n

He closed with a pair of aces and said the win was "the best performance I had during this tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next up he faces 35-year-old Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, who won a five-setter for the third straight round to advance 7-6 (4), 1-6, 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-4 over U.S. Open semifinalist Ben Shelton.<\/p>\n

Djokovic walked onto Rod Laver Arena when the match between lefthanders Mannarino and Shelton was going into the second set on the nearby Kia Arena. He was in a post-match news conference when the result of that match was relayed to him. Noted.<\/p>\n

Djokovic beat Shelton in the U.S. Open semi-finals one match before capturing his 24th Grand Slam singles title, and there was tension in the wake of it.<\/p>\n

\"Rublev's<\/p>\n

He copied Shelton's \u201cHang up the phone!\u201d celebration gesture after that win and it has been a source of tension ever since. Reports in the French media last week had Djokovic confirming he mocked it in retaliation to some provocation.<\/p>\n

On Friday, he elaborated. Djokovic started out be saying he had no problem with Shelton's overt confidence and recalled how he may have rankled one of the stars of the game earlier in his own career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know certainly Federer didn\u2019t like the way I was behaving at the beginning,\u201d he said. \u201cI guess I wasn\u2019t the favorite type of guy to some of the top guys because I was not afraid to say that I want to be the best player in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, he added, \u201cI never, ever lacked respect.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever I start a match, before the match or finish the match, I would always greet the opponent, always acknowledge,\u201d he said. \u201cRespect is something that I was taught that needs to be present regardless of what is happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

Without going into any detail, he said there's \u201csome kind of line, non-visible line, of acceptable behavior towards the other player.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a player steps over that line, then obviously it starts being annoying. That\u2019s when you react or you don\u2019t react, whatever. It just depends.\u201d<\/p>\n

That rematch will have to wait for another time.<\/p>\n

Potential quarter-finalists in that section are 2023 Australian runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas, who beat Luca Van Assche 6-3, 6-0, 6-4, and No. 12 Taylor Fritz, who held off Fabian Morozsan 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.<\/p>\n

\"Australian<\/p>\n

No. 4 Jannik Sinner is in hot form in the bottom of this half of the draw, advancing to the round of 16 without losing a set after a 6-0, 6-1, 6-3 victory over Sebastian Baez. He next faces 15th-seeded Karen Khachanov, who beat Tomas Machac 6-4, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-6 (5).<\/p>\n

In another night match, local hope Alex de Minaur had a 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 win over Flavio Cobolli and will next play fifth-seeded Andrey Rublev, who ousted Sebastian Korda 6-2, 7-6 (6), 6-4.<\/p>\n

De Minaur entered his home major on a run of wins over three top 10 players, including Djokovic in the United Cup.<\/p>\n

Rublev, who is on a seven-match winning streak after winning a title in Hong Kong, was careful not to upset the home crowd when asked about his next assignment.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor sure, it\u2019s normal that they will support Alex,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s a great player and a great guy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It wasn't the way he wanted to advance to the fourth round of the Australian Open but Novak Djokovic took it nonetheless. On match point […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":361162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361160"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=361160"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":361171,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361160\/revisions\/361171"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/361162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=361160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=361160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=361160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}