Novak Djokovic (Twitter)
Novak Djokovic won his record tenth Australian Open title while carrying an injury – how deep was the hamstring tear?
Novak Djokovic is known to be a warrior and he took this virtue to a whole new level at the recently concluded Australian Open. Scans have confirmed that Djokovic had a 3cm tear in his hamstring during his incredible championship-winning run in Melbourne. The Serbian star had suffered this injury during the warm-up event in Adelaide ahead of the Australian Open.
The Australian Open tournament director, Craig Tiley confirmed on Wednesday that Djokovic played with a three-centimetre (1.2 inches) tear in his hamstring during his run to a record-extending 10th Australian Open title. In an interview, Tiley said: “This guy I did see, he had a three-centimetre tear in his hammy. There was a lot of speculation about whether it was true or not, it’s hard to believe that they can do what they do with those kinds of injuries. He’s remarkable, to deal with it extremely professionally.” The news was confirmed by scans carried out by medical professionals.
Djokovic won a record tenth Australian Open title in Melbourne last week. With this win, the Serbian has now equalled Rafael Nadal as the joint-most Grand Slam Champion in the history of Tennis – 22. Djokovic has now bagged 66 ‘Big Titles’ which includes Grand Slam titles, ATP finals, ATP Masters 1000 tournaments and Olympic singles gold medals. The ATP World No.1 is now seven ‘Big Titles’ clear of his biggest rivals – Nadal (59) and Federer (54).
Djokovic is now back at the top of the ATP men’s singles rankings thanks to this historic triumph. He has become the third-oldest man in the Open Era to triumph at the Australian Open, trailing only Ken Rosewall and Federer, who both accomplished the feat aged 36. With his victory against Tsitsipas in the championship clash, the Serbian has also won 17 consecutive matches against Top 5 opponents at the tournament.
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