Djokovic on knee trouble: 'It definitely disrupted me'

Novak Djokovic’s latest survival act at Roland Garros did not come without a physical toll.

The No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings delivered a typically resilient display to outlast Francisco Cerundolo on Monday evening in Paris and record back-to-back five-set wins at the clay-court major. The Serbian was unsure just how high the price he had to pay for his victory was, however, and he spoke cautiously when asked about the knee that he tweaked at the start of the second set in his fourth-round triumph.

“For the last couple weeks I have had slight discomfort, I would call it, in the right knee, but I haven't had an injury that would be concerning me at all," said Djokovic in his post-match press conference. "I was playing a few tournaments with it, and had no issues until today.

“Of course, [the] late finish from a few nights ago didn't help the sleeping, the biorhythm, and recovery. But I actually felt great coming into the match — as good as I could under the circumstances — and played really well first set. Then in the third game of the second set, I slipped, one of the many times that I slipped and fell today. That affected the knee.”

NEVER. COUNT. HIM. OUT.

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Djokovic was glad that the medication provided by tournament medical staff to treat the injury kicked in just in time for him to launch his stunning comeback from 2-4 in the fourth set.

“I started feeling the pain and asked for the physio treatment and the medical timeout and tried to take care of it,” he said. “It did disrupt me definitely in play. For two sets, two sets and a half, I didn't want to stay in the rally too long. Every time he would make sudden drop shots or change directions, I would not be feeling comfortable to do the running.

“At one point I didn't know, to be honest, whether I should continue or not with what's happening. I got the medications, and then after the third set was done, I asked for more medications, and I got them.”

The site of Djokovic rallying back from the brink to triumph in an epic five-setter may be a familiar tale in the context of the Serbian’s illustrious career, but there was something unique about his preparation prior to his marathon triumph against Cerundolo. Having finished his third-round victory against Lorenzo Musetti at 3:07 a.m. on Sunday morning, the latest finish in tournament history, he opted not to practise on his day off.

“I played pétanque yesterday,” revealed Djokovic. “That was as hard of an activity as I had yesterday, in Bois de Boulogne with my friends. [It was] just a really easy day. I slept most of that day yesterday and did a lot of physio work and some of the water work as well. Some of the exercises in the water that always help reduce the strain on the joints and muscles, and tried to get a decent sleep again, which I did.

“[Today] I came to the court, I warmed up well, first set great. I didn't feel that the last match has affected me so much that I'm unable to run or to sustain the level. I played for over four-and-a-half hours. It was longer than the match against Musetti. So physically I'm okay. Thankfully I was able to recover quickly.”

Djokovic’s next task will be to prepare for his quarter-final clash against Casper Ruud. The top seed hopes his knee recovers as well as possible leading into the rematch of last year's Roland Garros final on Wednesday.

“I did carry it with me for a couple of weeks, but I did not feel that it was affecting me on the court," said Djokovic of the injury. "Meaning as soon as I would warm up, I would feel fine. I would run, I would do splits, slides, whatever. It wasn't any kind of an issue when I start to play.

“When I was cold, that's where I feel the discomfort. So today, again, we did put an extra care and attention to the knee in the last few days, my physio and I. It's like we predicted something might happen, so that helped, but I don't know.

“Today is just one of these things when you're on the court, you slip, do a bad move, you're in an unstable, unbalanced position. I guess that's probably a weaker part of my body that has had some few weeks of history, I guess that reacted. That's all I know for now.”