Novak Djokovic gave a worrying update on his injury as he cast major doubt on his participation in the semifinal of the Australian Open where he will face second seed Alexander Zverev. Djokovic physically struggled during the opening two sets of his quarterfinal match against Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday and had taken a medical timeout, before returning with a heavily strapped upper left thigh.
After scripting a stunning 4-6 6-4 6-3 6-4 win after three hours and 37 minutes of tense action on Rod Laver Arena, Djokovic remained tightlipped on his injury concerns during the on-court interview, before sparking fears about his recovery before the semifinal on Friday.
The 37-year-old had left the court at 4-5 down in the opening set and struggled through the majority of the second set and he showed discomfort in moving around the court. However, he raised his level during the fag end of the second set and outsmarted Alcaraz in the next two, amid taking two more painkillers, as he claimed victory.
“Well since I’m still in the tournament, I don’t want to reveal too much obviously,” Djokovic started. “But yeah, the medication started to kick in and that helped, no doubt. I had to take another dose. This sounds awful! Me taking another dose. But I had to.
“I didn’t know, to be honest, if I lost the second set I didn’t know if I would continue playing. But I felt better and better, managed to play a great couple of games to end the second set.”
The Serb further admitted that amid the painkillers working magic, he also saw Alcaraz being cautious in his baseline exchanges, which encouraged him to up his level further.
He added: “And then I saw that Carlos was hesitant a little bit from the back of the court and I took my chances and started to feel better, started to move better. So it didn’t bother me, it didn’t create any hindrance towards the end of the match, only in that second set.”
However, he added that he may not yet be ready to confirm whether he would recover in time for the clash against Zverev. Djokovic said: “Obviously when the medication starts to release, I’ll see what the reality is tomorrow morning. But right now I’ll just try to be in the moment and enjoy this victory.”
Djokovic has a dominating 8-4 record against the German in ATP meetings, including a 3-0 lead in Slam encounters.
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