MELBOURNE MISSIONS
LONDON: Novak Djokovic admitted he may need yet more time on the sidelines after he was stunned in straight sets by unheralded Hyeon Chung. ARAB NEWS takes a look at how the rest of the big names are doing as we enter the business end of the year’s first Grand Slam...
LONDON: Simona Halep said she was close to playing “100 percent” despite her aching body giving her sleepless nights as she reached the last eight.
Halep has spent a shade under eight hours on court in four matches so far, including an epic three hour 44 minute clash against Lauren Davis on Saturday which the Romanian won 15-13 in the final set.
“First day after the (Davis) match was pretty OK,” the top seed said after a 6-3, 6-2 victory over unseeded Naomi Osaka of Japan in 81 minutes.
“Last night was really tough. I couldn’t sleep. I had pain everywhere.
“But I slept before the match two hours, and worked perfect, perfect hours. I was, like, fresh after that. I felt good.”
Halep, who last made it this far in 2015, said she had more confidence in her troublesome ankle that she rolled in her first-round match.
“The ankle is still sore. But, you know, I’m not thinking about that any more,” she said.
“I saw that I can win matches with it (that way).
“Maybe I get used to the pain and I’m not thinking that much that something can happen. Just taking every point.
“I’m trying to play 100 percent, which I was close to today, to run normal and to run a lot. But I still feel it. It’s there, but I can handle it.”
Elsewhere, Angelique Kerber, the only Grand Slam singles winner
The 58th-ranked Chung relentlessly attacked Djokovic — who was playing his first tournament since Wimbledon because of an injured right elbow — in the 7-6, 7-5, 7-6 fourth-round win.
Djokovic, a six-time winner of the year’s first
Grand Slam, played in great discomfort with a recurrence of his right elbow injury. And as if that was not bad enough he also appeared to be suffering from possible hip/groin problems.
And that left the former world No. 1 to contemplate another sustained stint out of action.
“Yeah, unfortunately, it’s not great. Kind of end of the first set it (elbow) started hurting more. So, yeah, I had to deal with it till the end of the match,” Djokovic said.
“Now I don’t know. I have to reassess everything with my team, medical team, coaches and everybody, scan it, see what the situation is like,” he added. remaining in the women’s draw, was up earlier, and got a serious wakeup call.
For a while it appeared Kerber’s progression could unravel against No. 88 Hsieh Su-wei, a former topranked doubles player with a doublehanded grip on both sides, until she regained momentum for a 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 win. That earned Kerber a quarterfinal spot against Madison Keys.
With a mix of slice and chips, lobs and bunts, whippy half-volleys and wristy crosscourt ground strokes off both wings, Hsieh pushed Kerber to the extremes.
“Credit to her. She played an unbelievable match,” said Kerber, who won the Australian and US Open titles in 2016 and is on an 13-match winning streak to start 2018. “I was feeling I was running everywhere.”
“In the last couple weeks I’ve played a lot of tennis. Let’s see what’s happening.”
Having only confirmed his appearance at the tournament a week before the first round, making it as far as the fourth round does constitute some sort of success for the 30-year-old. The elbow injury had prevented him from hitting a shot in anger since last summer and he was at least able to take the positive out of the negative of an early exit.
“I have to say I’m very grateful I had the chance to play. I didn’t know if I’m going to play or not,” Djokovic said.
“So I played four matches here. It was a good tournament. It’s disappointing to go out in the fourth round. The circumstances are such I have to accept it. That’s the reality.
“It’s frustrating when you have that much time and you don’t heal properly. But it is what it is. There is some kind of a reason behind all of this.”
However, Djokovic was keen to stress that Chung more than deserved his win.
“I don’t want to talk about my injury tonight because then I’m taking away Chung’s victory, the credit that he deserves,” the Serb said.