Nine-time According to local media, Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic pulled short a practise match against Daniil Medvedev on Wednesday due to a left hamstring problem.
Novak Djokovic, the nine-time Australian Open winner, allegedly stopped short a practise match against Daniil Medvedev on Wednesday due to a left hamstring problem, only five days before the Grand Slam. The Serbian superstar returned to Melbourne after being deported last year, but he needed treatment and abandoned the match with the Russian after losing the first set. The exercise in Melbourne Park was meant to run 75 minutes but was cut short after little over half an hour as a precaution, according to the ABC and 9News Melbourne.
“It’s the hamstring that I had problems with in Adelaide last week,” Djokovic said, according to 9News.
“I just felt it pulling and I didn’t want to risk anything worse. I played a set and apologised to him (Medvedev) and he was understanding.
“I just want to avoid any bigger scares before the Australian Open,” he said.
Djokovic, who won the Adelaide crown on Sunday despite the lingering hamstring issue, is hot favourite to triumph in Melbourne once again.
The 35-year-old is supposed to play Nick Kyrgios in a re-run of last year’s Wimbledon final on Friday in front of a full house at Rod Laver Arena in another practice match.
Djokovic, one of the finest men’s tennis players of all time with 21 major crowns, was deported from Australia a year ago over his stance on Covid vaccines.
