Djokovic’s summer from hell

Novak Djokovic shed light on the cause of his summer slump last night, admitting 'private' issues during Wimbledon were compounded by a wrist injury at the Olympics.

Novak Djokovic shed light on the cause of his summer slump last night, admitting 'private' issues during Wimbledon were compounded by a wrist injury at the Olympics.

Published Aug 27, 2016

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Novak Djokovic shed light on the cause of his summer slump last night, admitting ‘private’ issues during Wimbledon were compounded by a wrist injury at the Olympics.

The world No 1 seemed in cheerful enough mood at the draw for next week’s US Open, which he goes into having played only nine singles matches since winning the French Open in early June.

Djokovic did nothing to dampen speculation that he may have been dealing with marital problems when losing in the third round at SW19, but emphasised everything on that front is now resolved.

Of more immediate impact for the next fortnight — which sees Andy Murray being given a more comfortable-looking draw — he said his Olympic first-round loss was contributed to by soreness in his left wrist, which he is still having to contend with.

When asked what had happened at Wimbledon, he replied: ‘It was nothing physical, there was some other thing that I was going through privately but nothing linked to the wrist injury.’

All did not appear well at the All England Club, where he lost to Sam Querrey with his wife Jelena unusually sitting several rows away from his support box.

Whatever happened, he said, it was no longer a problem.

‘Everything is fine,’ said Djokovic. ‘I’m in a position like everyone, we all have private issues that you have to encounter and need to overcome to evolve as a human being — that was the period for me. It happened right there, it was resolved. Life is going on.’

Having won the Canadian Open, Djokovic then lost in the first round of the Olympics against Juan Martin del Potro. He suffered a setback with his wrist prior to the event and it is still affecting him.

‘The wrist hasn’t been in an ideal state for three-and-a-half weeks, but I’m doing everything in my power to make sure I am as close to 100 per cent as possible during the course of this tournament, at least for the beginning.

‘It happened in Rio just a few days before the start of the tournament. I experienced it for the first time in my career,’ added the Serb, who left the court there in tears and was said to have truncated his practice session yesterday.

Djokovic was given a tougher-looking draw than his biggest threat Murray, and plays former Wimbledon semi-finalist Jerzy Jano-wicz in the first round. – Daily Mail

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