Novak Djokovic said he was bothered by a wrist problem during the Laver Cup in London and that his lengthy absence from the Tour recently could be to blame. The three-day tournament in London’s O2 Arena was Djokovic’s first event since the Serb won his 21st grand slam singles title at Wimbledon in early July.
The 35-year-old, who missed the North American hard-court swing and the US Open due to not being vaccinated against Covid-19, produced a dazzling performance on his return to the Tour on Saturday by winning his singles and doubles matches. However, he lost to Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime on the final day of the competition on Sunday. “I have been struggling with my right wrist for the last four, five days, to be honest. I have been keeping it under control,” Djokovic told reporters.
“The two matches yesterday probably had an effect. Today was not easy. I couldn’t serve as fast or as accurately as I would like to. That has affected the whole game.” Djokovic said qualifying for November’s ATP Finals in Turin remained his goal and that he will play a tournament in Tel Aviv this week followed by an event in Kazakhstan next week and then the Paris Masters at the end of October.
His Wimbledon victory guarantees him a spot in the Tour-ending Finals if he remains ranked in the world’s top 20. Djokovic, who is currently ranked seventh, said the wrist issue could be due to a combination of factors. “Could be not playing matches almost three months, and then conditions here are such that the balls are really big and slow,” he said.
“You always have to generate a lot of wrist action and speed, which could be the case why I have been feeling soreness.” After the Laver Cup concluded in favor of Team World on Sunday, Federer and Djokovic reflected upon their eventful week, and both acknowledged each other online. Federer wrote on Instagram: “Not the ending we all wanted. Thanks for a great week!”
In a press conference after the tournament, Federer emphasized how the format of the Laver Cup allowed the multi-grand slam winners to bond on and off the court. He further said that he was grateful to everyone who was kind to him during his final week on tour: “Even if we go for dinner at night, like here this week, I really enjoyed my time with Novak (Djokovic) and also Andy (Murray) and everybody on the team who I got to know better.
“Yeah, so a lot to say thank you to the guys, everybody who was so good to me, this week is special, Novak and Andy, and of course Rafa. The takeaway is that you can co-exist easily in this environment,” he remarked. Djokovic resonated with Federer’s thoughts, noting that as ambassadors of the sport, it was their responsibility to maintain a healthy relationship off the courts. He further credited the Laver Cup for providing a platform to connect with fellow athletes. “Look, as Roger said, co-existing in this environment with respect and admiration for each other is something that I feel like we can all do, and we are, in a way, responsible to do. We go out there against each other.”
(Written with Reuters inputs)
