For the first time in 1,400 professional appearances, Novak Djokovic's body broke on Monday, but he still pulled himself together and won the match Photo: Mateo Villalba/Getty Images
Unprecedented. Shocking. Changing the game. Those were the words that came to mind when Novak Djokovic announced that he had torn his medial meniscus and was withdrawing from the French Open.
Admittedly, this may sound like an exaggeration. Some variations of the headline “Athlete injured” are published dozens of times a day. But you have to remember who we're talking about: one of the most bulletproof physical specimens in the history of sports. Under the circumstances, «the body beats Djokovic» must be considered the biggest disappointment of the year.
To put it bluntly, Djokovic was the best player in the world for 13.5 years. During this time, he suffered a couple of overuse injuries, including an elbow problem that required surgery in 2018. And yet, in 1,400 professional matches, he has never heard of a joint, ligament or tendon “popping.” That is, until Monday noon.
Djokovic's resilience is rooted in both nature and nurture. His first coach, Jelena Gencic, never believed in strength training. Instead, she recommended that he hang from doorways to improve his already uncanny flexibility. He is often compared to Gumby, the plastic American television character who always absorbed the effects of the tour like a giant shock absorber.
His fitness track record is among his many outstanding achievements. This is definitely a contrast to what his greatest rival had. Rafael Nadal's physical weaknesses have forced him to miss 15 major tournaments since he first played at Wimbledon in 2004. Djokovic has missed just three since his debut in 2005, and two of them were due to his refusal to get vaccinated against Covid.
It's true that Djokovic, who recently turned 37, has admitted he's struggled to find motivation on the ATP Tour this season. But he's still putting in some vintage performances at the majors, the only events that get him out of bed these days.
He certainly looked strong when he outlasted Lorenzo Musetti — an Italian 15 years his junior — in an epic five-set game early Sunday morning. Compare that to the faltering play we saw from his near-exact contemporary Andy Murray, who was born a week earlier but came into the French Open with a metal hip, recently torn ankle ligaments and a sore back that needed unspecified intervention.”
Perhaps it would make more sense to place Djokovic next to Roger Federer, who played such high-quality, low-impact tennis throughout his career that he did not retire until he was 41.
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However, even Federer tore the meniscus in his left knee in 2016, when he was 35 years old. (Oddly enough, he felt it happen when he turned awkwardly while drawing a bath for his twin daughters.) It took him about eight months to do it. felt completely confident with the repaired joint, and then added three more major titles to his tally.
Federer's story, which ultimately forced him out of the game due to a cartilage problem in his right knee, highlights just how much It's difficult to predict Djokovic's recovery schedule.
Some meniscal tears never heal properly; others turn out to be as trivial as Taylor Fritz's 2021 example. (It survived into the second round of the French Open and didn't even prevent Fritz from winning matches at Wimbledon three weeks later.) The range of results is so wide that any predictions are just guesswork. But a 37-year-old's body, even one as well-trained as Djokovic's, tends to heal more slowly than a teenager's.
Obviously, there always came a point when Djokovic's fairytale run fizzled out. It took a disastrous French Open, marred by dark skies and endless rain, to break him. Speaking after his unfortunate knee dislocation on Monday afternoon, he criticized the tournament for removing much of the soggy clay and leaving a «very slippery» surface.
At the same time, however, we must recognize that no one else has struggled with Philippe Chatrier's on-court position to the same extent as Djokovic. After tearing his meniscus in the second set against Francisco Cerundolo, he regained his mobility with the help of a large dose of painkillers, but still fell hard while crossing the baseline in the fifth set.
< p>Could this injury have been a result of the pain he felt? in his knee for a couple of weeks, but which only bothered him when he wasn't warming up or playing in a match? Or could it be a hangover from his 3.07am finish against Musetti? According to Dr. Robbie Sicchi, medical director of the players' union PTPA: «Neurological recovery takes longer the more you expose a player, and another five-set match is going to be very tough.»
What can we say? Of course, Djokovic's camp was constantly changing. In March, he announced his separation from coach Goran Ivanisevic, and a month later from physical training coach Marco Panici. Even his agent was changed. Although it is impossible to determine cause and effect in such a case, the sense of instability extends far beyond the court.
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