By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday June 4, 2024
Paris – The right knee issues that plagued Novak Djokovic during his five-set win over Francisco Cerundolo on Monday in Paris have been bothering the 37-year-old for weeks.
“For the last couple weeks I have had, I would say, slight discomfort, I would call it that way, in the right knee, but I haven’t had an injury that would be concerning me at all,” the 24-time major champion told reporters after rallying past Cerundolo, 6-1, 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3. ‘I was playing a few tournaments with it, and no issues until today.”
The World No.1, who is slated to face Norway’s Casper Ruud in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, says he hopes to turn up fine for the remainder of the tournament, but isn’t sure.
“Basically the whole fifth set was almost without any pain, which is great,” He said. “But then the effect of the medications will not last for too long, so I’ll see. I guess we’ll do some more screening and tests and checkups tomorrow, as well.
“We have done some with doctor right now after the match. Some positive news but also some maybe concerns, so let’s see tomorrow. I can’t tell you more about it at the moment.”
It was strange scenes on Monday in Court Philippe-Chatrier, as Djokovic moved ahead by a set, winning six of the first seve games of the match. But in the third game of the second set he tweaked his knee and things would go sideways in the match from there. Djokovic met with doctors on court, and over the course of the match he took pain medication twice. The last time he took a larger dose, which he says enabled him to feel better in the fourth set.
Feeling less pain, he was once again able to move freely, and the Grand Slam king engineered his stunning comeback, rallying from two sets two one down, and a break to win in five.
“I didn’t know, to be honest, whether I should continue or not with what’s happening,” he told reporters. “I got the medications, and then after the third set was done, I asked for more medications, and I got them.
“That was the maximum dose that kicked in, as I heard now from the doctor after 30 to 45 minutes, which was just about the time kind of end of the fourth when things started to really improve for me. I started to feel less limitations in my movement.”
Djokovic will have to recover well if he is to win a record 25th major title – and fourth Roland-Garros title – this weekend in Paris.
Slipping and Sliding
Djokovic was miffed on court…
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