It seems much of the tennis world believes one thing: Novak Djokovic’s hamstring ‘injury’ could be bad, but it’s not that bad.
That at least seems to be the sentiment from a number of players both past and present, much to the chagrin of Djokovic himself.
One of those players seemed to be Alex de Minaur, who Djokovic dispatched in brutal fashion on Monday night.
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“I think everyone’s kind of seeing what’s been happening over the couple of weeks,” de Minaur said.
“It’s the only thing everyone’s been talking about. Either I’m not a good enough tennis player to expose that, or it looked good to me.”
American star Taylor Fritz took to Twitter on Tuesday morning to weigh in on injury in tennis, insisting he was not speaking about anyone in particular despite it coming in the hours after Djokovic’s thumping win and de Minaur’s comments.
“My opinion that probably nobody cares about…. 80% of players are always dealing w something (severity levels differ) but everyone is honesty always a little banged up… the media is only ever focusing on the top guys so there issues get more attention,” he wrote.
“Also some players are more vocal talking about injuries then others. I don’t think people fake injuries, I do think sometimes players stretch the severity of the injury because it depressurizes them and helps them play better (which honestly is fine, do whatever works).
“I don’t think it’s done in a bad sportsmanship kind of way, and before people get defensive, I’m not talking about anyone in particular this is just what I see as a player, sometimes there are serious injuries, sometimes there over exaggerated ones from people 1-500.”
Fritz’s input is notable given it was against him two years ago that Djokovic suffered what he said was a muscle “tear” in his five-set battle on Rod Laver Arena, which the Serbian star came through to win before going on to win the tournament.
After that third-round loss, a devastated Fritz wasn’t exactly convinced Djokovic’s struggles were as bad as he was making out.
“It was obviously tough to deal with him all of a sudden moving fast and just like playing so much better from the third and the fourth. I expected that. If he was really, really injured he wouldn’t have kept playing,” he said.
“I knew he would come out and come back strong in the fifth but it’s tough.”
Later, he added: “He looked like he was struggling in the third and the fourth and he didn’t really look like he was struggling in the fifth.”
“When I hit a winner he’d kind of pull at it but he looked fine in the fifth, lets be honest. Maybe he fought through it, but I’m happy for him that he had such a good recovery and he’s feeling a lot better.”
It was that injury that Djokovic referred back to on Monday night after defeating de Minaur.
“I have got the MRI, ultrasound and everything else, both from two years ago and now. Whether I will publish that in my documentary or on the social media, depends on how I feel. Maybe I will do I it, maybe I won’t,” he said.
“I am not really interested at this point what people are thinking and saying. It is fun, it is interesting to see how the narrative surrounding me continues, narrative that is different compared to other players that have been going through similar situation.
“But I am used to it, and it just gives me extra strength and motivation. So I thank them for that.”
One thing Fritz and many other players can also agree on is that Djokovic is both a superhuman competitor and superhuman athlete.
Australian Daria Saville – currently recovering from a torn ACL – said as much in Twitter posts of her own, while drawing the distinction between injury and on-court adversity.
“Playing with a niggle, playing sore, even playing with chronic pain is not an injury,” she wrote.
“An injury, that’s something that’s causing you enough pain to stop you from competing. Trust me, I freaking know.
“Novak is a machine and he can probably tolerate more pain that others and on top of that I’m sure him and his team spend hours and hours working on his hamstring to get it better.”
