Novak Djokovic reveals ‘specific movement’ is triggering pain in leg at Australian Open as injury concerns continue

ByNigel Chiu

Published 21/01/2023 at 12:45 GMT

Nine-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic has told Eurosport a certain movement is causing pain in his left leg, after more injury concerns in his three-set win over Grigor Dimitrov. There were fears about an injury to Djokovic prior to the tournament when he pulled out of practice sessions and the Serbian has been playing with strapping around his left hamstring.

Novak Djokovic has revealed a “specific movement” is triggering pain in his left leg after he battled through further hamstring issues in his 7-6(7) 6-3 6-4 victory over Grigor Dimitrov.

Djokovic called for the trainer at the end of a tight first set, requiring a medical timeout as he received a massage and was visibly in more pain in the third set.

He has been playing with strapping around his left hamstring and admitted after the second round that his injury was “not good at all”.

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“It’s movement, a specific movement that just triggers [pain],” Djokovic told Eurosport following his third round victory.

“So I pray it [the pain] is not going to happen but it happens every match, so I have to deal with it. I called the physio and got the pills in my system.

“It helped so far. Not ideal but somehow finding a way. At the end of the day this is high-level professional sport, you’ve got to find a way.”

Watch the moment Djokovic wins convincingly in three sets against Dimitrov

Djokovic has dropped just one set this so far in Melbourne and faces Australia’s Alex de Minaur, who beat Benjamin Bonzi in straight sets, in the fourth round on Monday.

The nine-time Australian Open champion was relieved to get through Dimitrov in straight sets to reduce his time on the court.

“I think every game made a difference,” said Djokovic when asked about the key moment of the match.

“But if I had to pick one it would probably be that tie-breaker, a very close tie-breaker that ended with an incredible point.

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“I was kind of going up and down physically with my leg, there were times I felt good, times I felt it was not looking great so had to handle that.

“But also Grigor was in form, playing well over three hours for three sets, I can’t imagine if I lost one of those sets, the length of the match, [would] probably [be] over four, five hours.

“Just fortunate to find the right shots in the important moments. I thought double break three-love in the final set would be enough but from that moment he was locked in, he made me play, made me run all over the place. He read my serves very well, it was just an incredible battle.”

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Stream the 2023 Australian Open live on discovery+, the Eurosport app and at eurosport.co.uk

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