{"id":399727,"date":"2024-06-03T22:28:09","date_gmt":"2024-06-03T22:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=399727"},"modified":"2024-06-04T01:06:10","modified_gmt":"2024-06-04T01:06:10","slug":"injured-djokovic-fumes-and-floats-shock-withdrawal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=399727","title":{"rendered":"Injured Djokovic fumes and floats shock withdrawal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Novak Djokovic<\/a> was not sure whether he would be able to play in the quarter-finals at Roland-Garros after injuring his right knee and needing anti-inflammatory pills to be able to finish beating No.23 Francisco Cerundolo 6-1, 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood thing about the slam is that you have a day between that will allow hopefully the healing process to happen more efficiently for me,\u201d Djokovic said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s it. I don\u2019t know what will happen tomorrow \u2014 or after tomorrow, if I\u2019ll be able to step out on the court and play. You know, I hope so. Let\u2019s see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watch Roland-Garros 2024 live and exclusively free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>. Plus four courts in 4K UHD on<\/strong><\/em> Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, the home of grand slam tennis.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Djokovic said he has been bothered by the knee for a couple of weeks, but it got worse after he tweaked it early in the second set Tuesday. He took a medical timeout, then was visited a few other times by a trainer and a doctor, who gave him the medicine \u2014 both during the second set and again after the third \u2014 that Djokovic said eventually helped him feel better and move without restrictions. According to Djokovic, the doctor said he was taking the maximum number of anti-inflammatories allowed.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/josemorgado\/status\/1797702406290956348?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/Tennis\/status\/1797702840862797864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

This was the second consecutive five-set comeback victory that lasted over four hours for Djokovic, who is ranked No.1 and the defending champion in Paris. He said that accumulation of time on court was not a problem; his knee was, however. It was painful enough that Djokovic considered quitting against Cerundolo.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know, to be honest, whether I should continue or not,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He is supposed to meet No.7 seed Casper Ruud in the quarter-finals on Friday. Ruud, who eliminated No.12 Taylor Fritz in four sets, lost to Djokovic in the final last year at Roland Garros and to Rafael Nadal in the 2022 title match.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe effect of the medications will not last for too long, so I\u2019ll see,\u201d Djokovic said. \u201cI guess we\u2019ll do some more screening and tests and checkups tomorrow, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

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He broke a tie with Roger Federer for the most match wins at major tournaments \u2014 and also for the most Slam quarterfinals for a man by reaching the 59th of his career. But just barely.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was,\u201d Djokovic said afterward, \u201cmaybe three or four points away from losing this match.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, he came through in ways he has so often over his years of dominance and 24 major trophies, a total that includes three at the French Open. He both turned around a contest after trailing \u2014 go ahead and ask Federer about holding match points against the guy \u2014 and emerging when the tension is greatest. Djokovic is 40-11 in fifth sets over his career; compare that with Cerundolo\u2019s 1-3 mark, and the outcome should surprise no one.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cReally, the toughest guy ever to play tennis,\u201d Cerundolo said. \u201cHe always finds a way to come back and play his best tennis at the toughest moments and at the end of every match.\u201d<\/p>\n

Djokovic trailed by two sets to one, and was down a break at 4-2 in the fourth, putting him two games from defeat.<\/p>\n

Of more concern than that gap was the pain in his knee \u2014 and the lack of clay on the court that Djokovic said was causing him to lose his footing. He repeatedly asked for the surface to be swept more often than just after each set, but those entreaties were denied.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

At 2-1 in the crucible of the fifth set, Djokovic\u2019s feet gave way as he chased a ball to his right, and he rolled on the ground, caking his white shorts, his red shirt and parts of his arms and legs with the rust-coloured clay. As he walked to the sideline to grab a bottle of water to clean off, he gave a piece of his mind to anyone who would listen, renewing an earlier complaint about wanting the court to be swept to improve traction.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell done, supervisor and everybody,\u201d Djokovic said, his voice drenched in sarcasm. \u201cNot slippery at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

At his news conference, he restated his concerns and his disappointment in the decision to not do more about the clay.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just trying to understand: If a player is feeling a certain way, what else do we need to wait for, for that to happen? I mean, today I injured myself. Yes, I survived. I won the match. Great. But will I be able to play next one?\u201d he said, tapping his palms on the table in front of him for emphasis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know. I don\u2019t know the severity of the injury. But could have this injury be prevented? Possibly, if there was just a little bit more of a frequent care of the court during the set.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Novak Djokovic was not sure whether he would be able to play in the quarter-finals at Roland-Garros after injuring his right knee and needing anti-inflammatory […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":399729,"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\/399727"}],"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=399727"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399727\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":399733,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399727\/revisions\/399733"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/399729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=399727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=399727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=399727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}