A Day At The Drive Tennis 2021 – Novak Djokovic withdraws from exhibition match but then returns

ByThe Editorial Team

Updated 29/01/2021 at 12:23 GMT

World number one Novak Djokovic pulled out of A Day at the Drive Adelaide exhibition before turning up to play a set anyway. The Serbian had withdrawn just minutes before he was due on court with a blistered hand and was replaced by Filip Krajinovic against Jannik Sinner. But he returned after the first set to help wrap up a 6-3 6-3 victory.

World number one Novak Djokovic pulled out of A Day at the Drive Adelaide exhibition before returning to play a set anyway.

The world number one was set to play Jannik Sinner but withdrew with a blistered hand just minutes before he was due out in front of the 4000-strong crowd.

His practice partner Filip Krajinovic took his place and won the first set 6-3, but Djokovic came back out on court for the second set to wrap up a 6-3 6-3 win.

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"I'm sorry that I didn't step in on the court from the beginning," said Djokovic.

I had to do some treatment with my physio, I wasn't feeling my best for the last two days and I didn't know how I was going to react.

"It's not easy but it's part of what we do, we're professional athletes, we learn over the years to play with the pain.

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"It's just a case of whether that pain is bearable or not. Obviously, coming off a hard training block and having the ATP Cup and Australian Open coming up you don't want to risk it too much."

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Djokovic and Krajinovic will join forces once again as Serbia defend the ATP Cup in Melbourne next week, before Djokovic embarks on his quest for a ninth Australian Open title on Feb. 8.

The 2021 Australian Open is live and exclusive on Eurosport. You can watch every moment on eurosport.co.uk and the Eurosport app.

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