Ahead of hitting back at critics with a social media post of his medical report, Novak Djokovic revealed in the press conference in Melbourne that he suffered a muscle tear after he retired from the semifinal match against Alexander Zverev. However, the explanation did not sit well with two former Italian tennis stars, Paolo Bertolucci and Adriano Panatta, who savaged the Serb.
Djokovic picked up the injury during the opening set of his quarterfinal match against Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday. After seeking a medical timeout and taking painkillers, he bounced back into the match, beating the Spaniard in four sets.
The come-from-behind win and the ease with which he outsmarted Alcaraz sparked a major controversy with many experts questioning the legitimacy of the injury. However. the talks quickly subdued as Djokovic skipped training in back-to-back days in the lead-up to the semifinal, before he retired after losing the first set against Alexander Zverev in the match.
“I didn’t hit a ball since [the] Alcaraz match, so until like an hour before today’s match. I did everything I possibly can to basically manage the muscle tear that I had,” Djokovic said. “Medications and, I guess, the strap, and the physio work helped to some extent today. But yeah, towards the end of that first set I just started feeling more and more pain. It was too much, I guess, to handle for me at the moment. Unfortunate ending, but I tried.”
Despite the revelation from the 37-year-old, who lost the opportunity to get his hands on an unprecedented 25th major and record-extending 11th Melbourne Slam, two former Italian tennis players added to the conspiracy saying that Djokovic only retired from the match because he reckoned he had no chance against Zverev in the semifinal.
“Djokovic had a strain, he said. I didn’t have time to open my eyes and the match was already over. Now: with a contracture you struggle to walk, but with a strain you can’t even take a step… I don’t really believe it, ” Bertolucci told corrieredellosport.
Panatta replied: “But what strain, come on , he must have had a small contracture. We know him, we know what Nole does in these situations, come on. He tried, he saw that there was no chance against Zverev and after losing the first set he threw in the towel. It won’t change anything for him in his career anyway”.
Djokovic, on Saturday, showed evidence of his hamstring injury as he shared a picture of his medical report, while hitting back at injury ‘experts’. Sharing a picture of his MRI scan, he wrote: “Thought I’d leave this here for all the sports injury ‘experts’ out there.”
