Not being able to defend the Monte Carlo Masters was bad enough but if injury is the cause, players do lose balance. However, Novak Djokovic has kept calm and said he would give his right wrist all the time in the world to heal completely, before he takes to court again.
Djokovic's next scheduled event is the Madrid Masters, starting 4 May, but the question is whether his wrist will heal in time. And with the French Open only five weeks away, his fans are hoping that the injury is not severe.
"The good thing is I don't need to have a surgery, I don't have any rupture or something like that," Djokovic said after the 5-7, 2-6 loss to Roger Federer in the semifinals on Saturday. "I'm going to go see the doctors tonight and then tomorrow again have another MRI, see if anything changed in the seven days since I had the last one.
"I'll just rest now. I cannot play tennis for some time -- how long, I don't know. It's really not in my hands anymore. I'm going to rest and see when it can heal 100 percent, and then I will be back on the court."
The injury comes at a time when the Serb could have given the current world no.1 Rafael Nadal a real run for the money in the rankings. The Belgrade native has nothing scheduled for the next two weeks, and will hope to recover in the meantime.
Djokovic admitted that the long rallies and heavy balls aggravated his injury. He also said that he played with pain throughout the tournament and, when asked about the nature of his injury, he said he would leave the medical terms for the experts.
"The pain was there every single day from 10 days ago, at some stages it was very painful," Djokovic said. "Between my first and second match I had a day off so I didn't practise at all and I healed a little bit. Then again I started playing.
"I really don't know the diagnosis, to be honest. I heard so many things in last 10 days. Trust me, it's complicated."
French Open is the only Grand Slam title missing from his collection, and Djokovic would want to rest as much as he can, before trying to get close to the title because he agrees that injuries are part and parcel of the sport.
"I had two weeks between Miami and Monte Carlo in March," Djokovic added. "It's not like I was tired or I had some long trips or something like that.
"It just happened during the practise week, sometimes it just happens. Sometimes it's not predictable."
When asked if it would have been better for his wrist if he had pulled out from the semifinals, Djokovic did not think so. "I am a professional athlete. I fight. I compete. I don't like to withdraw from tournaments. I don't like to retire my matches. I like to play to the last point."
(Ed: VP)
