Novak Djokovic ‘gambling’ on fitness after Australian Open win over Raonic – The Guardian

Novak Djokovic says he could potentially cause more damage to his body by continuing to compete at the Australian Open following the abdominal injury he sustained during his third-round match against Taylor Fritz. On Sunday the world No 1 returned to beat Milos Raonic 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.

After stating following his match against Fritz on Friday night that the ATP physio had told him his injury was definitely a tear, on Sunday he declined to describe his injury in detail. He said he had spent the previous 48 hours doing different treatments with different devices, including pills and painkillers, having coordinated with medical staff of Tennis Australia, ATP physios and his own physiotherapist.

Its kind of a gamble, said Djokovic. I mean, thats what the medical team told me. Its really unpredictable, you cant know whats going to happen with you once youre on the court. Youre not gonna save yourself or think about going for that point or this shot or that shot. It just pulls you. Its normal. Playing at this level, you just want to give it all.

It could cause much more damage than it is at the moment, but it also could go in a good direction. So thats something that I dont know, and I dont think I will also know until I stop taking painkillers. As long as Im with high dose of painkillers, I guess, you know, still can bear some of the pain.

Djokovic said he did not know whether he would play until a few hours before the match but he produced a highly competent performance to overcome Raonic. Although he sometimes grimaced, he won 78% of first serve points, fired 41 winners to just 25 unforced errors, moved smoothly and broke Raonics considerable serve three times.

Playing best-of-five with kind of an aggressive mover that I am on the court doesnt help much with this kind of injury, but I think the combination of pills and treatments and also some willpower and of course certain degree and level of bearing the pain. Mentally I think you have to kind of accept that I did come into the match knowing that Ill probably feel pain all the way through, which was the case, said Djokovic.

Injuries were the theme of the day as the 21st seed Grigor Dimitrov produced a shock 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 victory against the third seed Dominic Thiem to reach the quarter-finals. Thiem offered little energy or resistance throughout, scoring just six points in the 21-minute third set. Afterwards, he noted physical issues but declined to further elaborate.

Some little physical issues, he said. I dont want to go closer to them. I dont want to find any excuses. But the thing also is that Im also not a machine. I mean, sometimes I would like to be, but there are really, really bad days. As soon as youre not a 100% there on the court on this level, then results like this come up and thats exactly what happened today.

Dimitrov will face the surprise of the tournament, Aslan Karatsev, a 27-year-old Russian qualifier who defeated the 20th seed Felix Auger Aliassime 3-6, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 to become the first male player in 25 years to reach a grand slam quarter-final on debut.

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Novak Djokovic 'gambling' on fitness after Australian Open win over Raonic - The Guardian