Novak Djokovic speaks up about his ‘miraculous recovery’
A video of Novak Djokovic limping after his Qatar Open exit set off alarm bells about his participation at the Indian Wells Open, but the tennis great has allayed fears that it was a serious injury.
Following his quicker-than-expected recovery from the hamstring injury that forced him to retire from his Australian Open semi-final match against Alexander Zverev in January, Djokovic returned to action in Doha in mid-February.
His Qatar campaign, though, didn’t last very long as he was beaten by Matteo Berrettini in the first round, but he insisted after the match that he “didn’t have any pain or discomfort”.
Yet a few days later, a video emerged of Djokovic walking gingerly as he made his way through the airport, raising fresh fears that he was injured again and could miss the Indian Wells event.
When a reporter asked him, “So another miraculous recovery… How did you make it here especially seeing that video of you hobbling through the airport?” he answered: “I saw that. No, it was something different, actually. It was not an injury.
“The injury is behind me. I mean, hopefully. I haven’t felt any problems prior to Doha, end of Doha tournament I felt completely fine, as I have felt in the lead-up to Indian Wells, my training weeks.
“It was really, yeah, awkward to see that video, because I arrived to the airport and I hit myself really badly as I was walking out, because it was very early, I think, 4:00 or 5:00am.
“I was just limping because I hit myself badly on the ankle. That’s all. It was just a hit. It was nothing else. But then people connected it to the injury and thought it was something escalating and coming back.
“But anyway, I’m feeling good. I really look forward coming to Indian Wells and Miami this year, you know. I’ll play the Sunshine Double first time after, I think, six years. I look forward to that.”
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Djokovic is a five-time champion in Indian Wells, but he hasn’t reached the latter stages of the ATP Masters 1000 event since 2016.
Last year he was stunned in the third round by Luca Nardi while he missed the previous three editions.
The 24-time Grand Slam winner will kick off his 2025 campaign against Botic van de Zandschulp on Friday after the Dutchman moved into the second round following Nick Kyrgios’ retirement.
The sixth seed added: “I haven’t done really well in Indian Wells and Miami ever since 2016 or ’17, and I struggled to find my best game here.
“I’m not going to get younger; I know that. But I definitely look to go deep in the tournament, you know. I’ve done, I think, the right things in preparation. I’ve been playing some good tennis these days. So let’s see. Let’s see how far I can go.”
