The US Open top seed Novak Djokovic complained of a nagging pain in his shoulder that was “quite unpredictable and rough.” According to the Serb, this is the same pain that not only hampered his play during his second-round win over the Argentine Juan Ignacio Londero but, also bothered him during the Cincinnati Masters.
Latest on Djokovic’s shoulder injury
The world no.1 had to undergo medical treatment on his left shoulder throughout the match until he played his winning set. Nole feared that this injury might force him to retire.
Speaking in an interview, he said: “It was not easy to play with this kind of sensation, to be honest. I did not experience that too many times in my career”. He further added: “I had obviously, you saw, a medical timeout. At changeovers, I tried to use within the rules as much as I can physiotherapy and medical help. That has definitely helped me stay in the match”.
The Serb admitted that the way the pain started getting excruciating, especially when the first set was midway, he thought he would not be able to complete the match.
Djokovic said: “The pain was almost unbearable at some point, I felt pain while tossing the ball, I hope that we will be able to reduce the pain significantly so that I could play the third round.”
He revealed that he has had to deal with this issue for quite some time now and said: “It’s not new in a sense that it has bothered me now for almost a couple weeks, I’ve been experiencing some days of higher intensity of pain, some days less. It has been really fluctuating a lot, going up and down. What happened today on the court, actually how I felt, was quite rough and unpredictable”.
The ultrasound and the good news
For the pain, he assured he is going to assess the injury with sports medicine experts and further consultations. And, the world number 1 came clean, speaking to the Serbian media made disclosures regarding his ultrasound report, he said: “We did an ultrasound and the results had shown that there are no damages. I don’t believe that this can be a long-term issue. At least that is what the specialists say.”
Adding further, he said: “This is uncomfortable because we are at a Slam, but we’ll find a way.”
Nole is known to be a fighter, in a post-match interview, the tough Serb said: “It wasn’t easy to play with the pain, but you have to hope you will get some opportunities and some lucky shots.”
“It’s not the first time I’m facing this kind of adversity or challenge. It is what it is, and I’m just grateful to be on the court”, Novak concluded.
Djokovic at the U.S. Open and results in 2019
Currently world no. 1, the Serbian has a 40-7 win-loss record in 2019. The Serbian is currently playing at the U.S. Open where he defeated Roberto Carballes Baena 6-4 6-1 6-4 and Juan Ignacio Londero 6-4 7-63 6-1.
The Serbian will come up against Kudla in the 3rd round. The head to head is 1-0 for Djokovic.
The last time that they squared off, Djokovic won 6-3 6-2 6-2 in the 2nd round in Wimbledon the 3rd July 2019.
The Serbian has won 3 titles in 2019 at the Australian Open, in Madrid and in Wimbledon. Novak was the finalist in Rome.
The Serbian won 75 titles in his career. 43 on hard courts, 14 on clay courts, 12 on indoor courts and 6 on grass courts.(See the list of his titles)
