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AFP
![Djokovic can be treated several times on the pitch.]()
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Djokovic can be treated several times on the pitch.
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![The cry of redemption - Djokovic is enormously relieved after the victory.]()
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The cry of redemption – Djokovic is enormously relieved after the victory.
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AFP
![Last year John McEnroe made fun of the eventual winner's time-outs.]()
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Last year John McEnroe made fun of the eventual winner’s time-outs.
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Getty Images
![Taylor Fritz forces Djokovic over five sentences and does not believe in a serious injury.]()
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Taylor Fritz forces Djokovic over five sentences and does not believe in a serious injury.
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Getty Images
![How serious is Djokovic's abdominal muscle strain really?]()
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How serious is Djokovic’s abdominal muscle strain really?
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There are allegations that Novak Djokovic has had to live with since his rise to the tennis elite: injury theatrics, mind games, simulation! The Serb often gave up, especially in the early years of his career. In the later, his medical time-outs accumulate in explosive match moments or when he is on the verge of defeat. He allows himself to be treated, collected himself in the breaks, breaks the rhythm of his opponents, who have a hard time mentally anyway to play their game against a supposedly battered opponent.
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This is also seen in the strangled round of 16 against the American Taylor Fritz. However, Djokovic comfortably leads 2-0 sets when the spook begins. After he was treated off-court at the beginning of the next round, sentences three and four slip away. He lets the physio come several times and massage his stomach. In the fifth everything seems to be Lot again. “I was in severe pain and took the highest possible dose of painkillers,” explains the Djoker after “without a doubt one of the most special victories of my career”.
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Fritz doesn’t do it for him
They don’t all believe him. “I’m happy for him that he has recovered so well,” says the loser Fritz later – without a doubt with an ironic undertone. “If he was really, really hurt, he wouldn’t have played. In the 5th sentence it no longer looked like a fight for him. ” The Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis – friend of Djokovic hater Nick Kyrgios – even tweeted: “Heal a muscle tear in two days ?! Teach me that ». Then he deletes the entry again.
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Even the Eurosport man, who is actually obliged to be objective, cannot suppress his doubts about Djokovic’s condition while commenting. “With an injury like this, it is impossible to serve at 190 km / h,” he says and turns to the audience: “Form your own judgment. But I’ve just commented on too many Djokovic matches that were similar.”
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McEnroe and Hewitt ridiculed
This was also the case last year in Melbourne. In the semifinals against Roger Federer and in the final against Dominic Thiem, the world number 1 took “medical time-outs” due to inexplicable malaise. Djokovic won his 8th Austealian Open title. But he had to accept the scorn of the tennis legends and John McEnroe and Lleyton Hewitt. “Big Mac” says cynically on TV: “He has the doctor, he has the physio, he has drinks, something to eat – what is still missing?” Aussie expert Hewitt scoffs: “He’s behind with a double break, it’s probably the score that makes him sick.”
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The last French Open provide another example. After Djokovic had eliminated Pablo Carreño Busta in four sets despite shoulder problems, the Spaniard blew the same horn as Taylor Fritz yesterday: “I don’t know whether Novak has problems or whether it’s just a mental issue. Every time it gets difficult for Novak in a game, he calls in the doctor. “
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Be that as it is – only the Serbian knows how he is really doing. And he’s obviously worried. It is something serious, he does not know whether he can play against the Canadian Milos Raonic for his round of 16. If Djokovic actually gives up, many people have wronged him.
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Published: 02/13/2021, 5:02 p.m.-Last updated: February 13th, 2021, 5:05 pm–Related
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