Just how injured is Novak Djokovic? It’s one of the biggest questions hanging over the Australian Open ahead of Saturday night’s third-round blockbuster with Grigor Dimitrov.
Plus Andy Murray tries to back up from his 4am epic against the man who ‘retired’ him here four years ago.
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“I’m the worst athlete in the family!” | 00:42
STAR FUMES OVER ‘CHEATING’ AFTER CLAIMING UMPIRE ‘SLEEPING’ IN BIZARRE MOMENT
America’s Alison Riske-Amritraj has explained exactly what went down in her dramatic doubles blow-up against a chair umpire on Friday.
Riske-Amritraj hit a ball into the body of an opponent and apologised after the point, but umpire Nico Helwert bizarrely called a point penalty against her for hindrance (talking during the point).
Any replay would’ve shown Helwert was incorrect but he maintained his stance leaving Riske-Amritraj fuming.
“That’s f***ing ridiculous … is he sleeping?,” she fumed to a supervisor.
On Saturday she responded to a tweet about the issue, blaming the opposing player.
“She should have called it on herself & the umpire apologized for his incorrect ruling after, which I accepted,” she said.
“Poor sportsmanship and cheating happens all the time, especially at the junior level. Parents/players spend too much time, money & mental energy for that experience.
“As you can tell, I am extremely passionate about helping tennis’ future here. If you’re working on a compelling piece of line calling or VAR tech and need help funding/scaling please DM me.”
Djoker advances despite hamstring scare | 01:12
BIG INJURY FEARS IN BATTLE OF ‘BALKAN BROTHERS’
The heavy favourite to go all the way and claim a 10th title down under, Djokovic’s hopes took a massive blow when he suffered a hamstring injury in Adelaide on January 9.
He battled through the pain on that occasion, saving championship points to beat US prodigy Seb Korda in the final.
The 35-year-old cruised past Roberto Carballes Baena in a straight-sets win in the first round.
But he needed a medical time-out for treatment on the injury in his next match, dropping a set and looking in discomfort throughout his 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-0 win over French qualifier Enzo Couacaud.
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After that match, Djokovic revealed his concern over the injury.
“I am worried,” he said. “I mean, I cannot say that I’m not. I have reason to be worried. But at the same time I have to accept the circumstances and try to adjust myself with my team.
“My physio and medical team has been doing everything possible so that I can be able to play every match,” Djokovic added. “There’s not much more to talk about. There’s two choices: leave it or keep going. So I’m going to keep going.”
Now, he faces a much tougher test than the opening two rounds, coming up against a former Australian Open semi-finalist and current 27th seed Grigor Dimitrov.
“I know matches are only going to get tougher for me from here. Two years ago I had kind of similar circumstances here in Australia with a different muscle where I had a tear and I had to deal with that. Somehow I pushed it through and won the tournament,” Djokovic said. “But it’s different now, obviously. I don’t know how my body’s going to react. I hope for the best.”
Zhu Lin’s emotional post-match interview | 01:29
Dimitrov has beaten Djokovic just once in 10 attempts – back in 2013 – and remarkably the former world number three has not won a ATP title since the ATP Finals in 2017.
But the 31-year-old has not dropped a set so far this tournament, and has faced just one break point in his two matches.
He needed just 1 hour and 34 minutes to rout Laslo Djere 6-3 6-2 6-0 in the second round, the fastest men’s match of the tournament so far.
Dimitrov also leads the men’s draw in unreturned first serves (59%), a stunning serving performance. Djokovic is one of the great returners of all time, but the extent to which his injury impacts his returns could prove decisive.
“I know him really well,” Djokovic said. “We are good friends off the court. Balkan brothers! Let the better player win.”
AUSTRALIAN OPEN NIGHT 6 – ORDER OF PLAY (All times AEDT)
Night session from 7pm
Rod Laver Arena
[27] Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) vs [4] Novak Djokovic (SRB)
Magda Linette (POL) vs [19] Ekaterina Alexandrova
Show Court 1
Andy Murray (GBR) vs [24] Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP)
John Cain Arena
Alexei Popyrin (AUS) vs Ben Shelton (USA)
KIA Arena
Laura Siegemund (GER) vs [4] Caroline Garcia (FRA)
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