Novak Djokovic got here into his fourth-round Australian Open conflict nursing a hamstring damage that he mentioned left him a match-by-match proposition to proceed within the event.
But one more win, his thirty eighth consecutive on Australian soil, and in dominant trend left opponent Alex de Minaur questioning precisely how damage the nine-time champion was.
Djokovic suffered the present subject in the course of the semi-finals of the Adelaide International 1 earlier this month, however performed and received a three-setter towards Australian Open quarter-finalist Seb Korda 24 hours later.
The Serb has been accused previously of exaggerating accidents. Most not too long ago, he spoke typically about an stomach tear suffered early within the 2021 Australian Open – although he cruised to the title whereas affected by it, profitable the ultimate over Daniil Medvedev in straight units.
After the 2015 remaining at Melbourne Park Andy Murray accused him of enjoying up a problem that was “not legitimate”.
On Monday night time, de Minaur commented on how effectively Djokovic moved – and was requested whether or not the hypothesis about his damage was irritating in the course of the match.
“I don’t know. You tell me how you thought he looked out there,” he mentioned, with a wry smile.
“Playing him, I thought he was moving pretty well, so… I don’t know.”
Asked how he ready given the hamstring subject, de Minaur mentioned: “Look, I don’t know. I think everyone’s kind of seeing what’s been happening over the couple of weeks. It’s the only thing everyone’s been talking about.
“Today I was out there on court against him. Either I’m not a good enough tennis player to expose that, or… it looked good to me. He was just too good in all aspects.”
Djokovic mentioned post-match he didn’t have any points with the hamstring in the course of the win over de Minaur.
“I didn’t feel anything today. Today was great,” he mentioned.
“I thank my medical team, my physio. Thank God, anybody that really helped me.”
While he was not requested about de Minaur’s feedback in his post-match press convention, Djokovic did broaden upon the therapy he has been endeavor.
“We take it day by day. We do a lot of things actually. It’s been honestly exhausting to be involved in a lot of different treatments and machines and stuff that we do,” he mentioned.
“At the same time it was necessary. It is necessary in order to get myself in a condition to play. So I’m really glad that my body has responded really well.
“Tonight I didn’t feel any pain. I moved as well as I have the whole tournament. It means we are progressing in the right direction.”
He added: “Certain movement was affected, particularly the extreme movements on the court, change of directions and so forth. Maybe people who were watching me play don’t maybe get that idea. For me as a player, being on the court, I can feel the difference definitely.
“I guess you have to accept and deal with the fact that you have a certain amount of the pain, which is not an issue for me. The biggest issue was the unpredictability of what the next quick move can cause. That’s what was my biggest concern because that’s how I got injured actually before the tournament started.
“So those quick change of directions and movements have been in the first couple of matches tough for me. But tonight, no problem at all.”
Originally printed as ‘Everyone’s seeing what’s been occurring’: Demon hints at Djokovic damage conspiracy
