Djokovic determined to learn from injury misery

ABU DHABI: Former world number one Novak Djokovic admitted Tuesday his six-month absence from tennis has taught him never to take his career for granted, describing his injury agony as a “roller-coaster ride”.

The 30-year-old Serb has not played since Wimbledon in July when a long-standing elbow injury forced him to shut down his 2017 season.

As a consequence, the 12-time major winner saw his world ranking slip to 12, his lowest place in 10 years.

“It’s been a real roller-coaster ride for me for a year and a half with this issue. I’ve never had surgery in my life, I’ve never had any major injuries that kept me away from the tour for such a long time,” Djokovic told Sport360 in Abu Dhabi.

“I never missed a Grand Slam in my career. It was a big decision, a big call to make. I couldn’t play anymore, there was no choice. It was like, that’s it, you can’t lift your arm.”

Djokovic will return to the court in Abu Dhabi at the pre-season Mubadala World Championship which runs from December 2830.

He is then due to kick-off his competitive season as top seed at the Qatar Open next week before launching a bid for a seventh Australian Open crown.

Having added mercurial former tour player Radek Stepanek to a coaching team spearheaded by Andre Agassi, Djokovic only started hitting again in Monaco four weeks ago.

“I’ve learned a lesson because I really want to avoid getting to that stage of an injury ever in my career after this,” Djokovic added. - AFP