Novak Djokovic: What specific injury is tennis great dealing with ahead of French Open?
Novak Djokovic has been pretty vague about the injury he is dealing with ahead of the French Open as he refused to divulge about it after his Italian Open exit.
The 24-time Grand Slam winner has played only three tournaments so far in 2026 with his first event the Australian Open where he finished runner-up to Carlos Alcaraz.
Djokovic’s second tournament came more than a month later as he signed up for the Indian Wells, beating Kamil Majchrzak and Aleksander Kovacevic before losing against Jack Draper in the round of 16.
After an absence of nearly two months, he returned to action as he made his 2026 clay-court debut at the Italian Open, but his campaign was short-lived as he was stunned by qualifier Dino Prizmic in his opening match with the Croatian winning 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.
During the post-match press conference, a journalist put the following question to Djokovic: “I know you don’t want to take anything away from your opponent, can you explain what you were feeling out there? Was it stomach? Shoulder?”
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But the former world No 1 refused to discuss his injury as he gave a short reply about the problem before praising his opponent, saying: “I hope you understand I will not talk about that. I want to congratulate Dino. Deservedly the winner today.
“Yeah, came in to have a match or more. Unfortunately only a match. It’s all right. I’m pleased at least that I fought till the end. I want to thank the crowd. It was incredible once again. I mean, the support and love that I’ve been getting, it’s something I don’t take for granted.”
So what is the specific injury that the tennis great been dealing with in recent months?
Much like his answer to the question about his injury in Rome, Djokovic has been ambiguous about his injury since the start of the year.
Injury Timeline in 2026
Djokovic was due to take part in the Adelaide International in January, but he withdrew from the tournament and didn’t really reference any injury as he simply stated, “I’m not quite ready to compete”.
“To all my fans in Adelaide, unfortunately I’m not quite physically ready to compete in the Adelaide International next week,” he said in a statement.
He finally made his 2026 debut at the Australian Open and managed to come through the tournament unscathed as he reached the final before losing in four sets against Alcaraz on 1 February.
The Qatar Open was due to be his next tournament in mid-February, but he also didn’t mention the reason for skipping the tournament with organisers announcing on social media “Novak Djokovic is pulling out from Doha due to strong fatigue”.
The Serbian’s next appearance was at the Indian Wells Open at the start of March and he competed with a compression sleeve on his right arm during the tournament and later told Tennis Channel that he was struggling with a forearm injury.
After losing in the round of 16 in Indian Wells, Djokovic then withdrew from the Miami Open and for the first time, there was mention of his shoulder as organisers revealed he pulled out with a right shoulder problem.
Next, he withdrew from the Monte Carlo Masters without sharing a reason, while his Madrid Open decision was accompanied by a “I’m continuing my recovery in order to be back soon” message.
He at long last made his return at the Italian Open and ahead of his opening match against Prizmic he explained: “I wanted to be back on the tour earlier, but unfortunately the injury prevented me to do that, so I had to wait a bit more and progressively improve the state of the body and obviously get ready for Roma, the city and the tournament that I truly love, and I had great success in for many years.”
So, the last mention of a specific injury was at the Miami Open where organisers stated he withdrew with a shoulder injury.
