The world number one claimed to have injured himself by slipping on the Philippe-Chatrier court, where there was not enough clay according to him, on Monday.
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Qualified for his fifteenth quarter-final in a row at Roland-Garros, Novak Djokovic, however, almost gave up in the round of 16 against Francisco Cerundolo on Monday June 3. The fault lies with an injury contracted in the second set. “I slipped and it affected my knee. I don’t know what will happen tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, or if I will be able to get on the court and play.”declared the Serb at a press conference, about his upcoming quarter-final against Casper Ruud.
Concerned about his knee, Novak Djokovic railed against the state of the Philippe-Chatrier court, which he believes is responsible for this injury: “Because of the drier, warmer conditions that affected the pitch, it became very slippery. I injured my knee today because of that, because I slipped. Everyone slips on the clay, sure. But I slipped too many times.
The world number one complained to the chair umpire, even asking that the nets be passed on the court more often, and not just at the end of each set. “She said she would check, she spoke to the supervisor of the people who take care of the grounds. The answer was no”regretted the Serb.
“Today I fell, I survived. I won. But will I be able to play the next match? I don’t know, I don’t know the seriousness of my injury. Will we could have avoided it?
Novak Djokovicat a press conference
While taking care not to offend the little hands who caress the Parisian clay, Novak Djokovic is therefore asking for an adaptation of the regulations, after the bad weather of the last few days: “There was a lot of rain, humidity, heavy and muddy conditions on the courts. I would say the weather of the past days affected the upper layers of the clay. I don’t know what they did exactly. I think they removed some of the clay. So there was very little, almost no clay on the surface.”
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1/8 final: medical treatment for Novak Djokovic
Small alert for Novak Djokovic who calls his doctor. The Serbian appears to be complaining of knee pain. The game resumes after 7 minutes of interruption.
To cope, the world number 1 relied on anti-inflammatories: “After the third set, I asked the doctor to give me something more, he told me: ‘There, I can’t give you more than that’. That was enough. After 45 minutes, it had an effect. This allowed me to play my best at the end of the match.”