Novak Djokovic: My Ankle Doesn’t Look Good Right Now, It’s Swollen And I’m Concerned
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Following up on the Novak Djokovic’s scary right ankle turn, the World No. 1 elaborated on the injury afterward when speaking with the press in Boise, site of Serbia’s 3-1 road win over the USA in the Davis Cup quarterfinals.
“Well, obviously it’s very strong emotion when you play for your country,” said Djokovic who suffered the injury in the fourth game of the match en route to a 4-set win over Sam Querrey. “I guess that’s the biggest reason why I kept playing.
“The nature of the injury is still to be determined. One hour, one hour and a half after the end of the match, all I can say now is it doesn’t look good.”
Djokovic will fly return home to Monte Carlo where he’ll undergo an MRI tomorrow to find out the extent of the damage. For now though, Novak admits “it’s swollen”.
With so much at stake with the clay season ahead, Djokovic could have done more harm to the ankle by playing, but he’s pleased he was able to come through for his country.
“Just thinking about winning this match and bringing the tie win to Serbia; I’m glad I did,” Djokovic said. “On the other hand, I’m a bit concerned definitely. It’s not comfortable feeling what I feel right now with that ankle.”
Djokovic remains hopeful of returning for Monte Carlo next Monday. “I live there and train there, so it feels like a home tournament to me. I love playing there, so I’m going to do everything in my power to recover for that tournament. How realistic it is, to be honest, I don’t know. I don’t know what to tell you right now. It’s still too early.”
He also talked about the injury and how it impacted his play. He said the pain meds helped and the movitation of winning for Serbia got him through.
“Your body is trying to protect itself,” Djokovic said. “I was having mostly the fight within myself and trying to be focused on the game, and yes, acknowledge but still remove the thoughts from the pain that I had. As I said, if this was a normal ATP Tour event, I don’t know, but probably my mindset would be different. You know, I did have a lot motivation and support from the team members and from the crowd. Just feels kind of logical that you do your best in order to finish the match.
“Luckily for us, it was a win.”
Here’s Novak in tears during a Serbian interview:
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