NOVAK FEELS ANDY’S PAIN
THe careers of Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray have run in remarkable parallel, helping the former to feel the latter’s pain as he tries to recover from hip surgery.
Born a week apart, long-term playing rivals and fathers of two young children, they have also been collaborating on issues affecting the sport’s political machinations in recent weeks.
While Murray has been an elusive figure on the tennis scene, Djokovic has been in contact, mainly to discuss matters concerning the ATP’s Player Council, of which they are members, but also to offer moral support.
‘Obviously he’s got two children now, and life at home for sure for him is different and I can understand him,’ said the Serb, who yesterday made the third round of the French Open with a 7-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Rafael Nadal’s protege Jaume Munar. ‘And I can only imagine how difficult it is for him, as well, to deal with the injury. You know, that’s something that I can relate to. I have had quite a similar situation, although his injury takes more time.
‘Hopefully we can see him playing on grass, because that’s where, I guess, he wants to play.’
While Djokovic has had to contend with minor surgery on his elbow, he has also admitted to having motivational crises in the past 12 months after achieving so many goals.
In Murray’s case there is little question that the mind is willing, but the body has been weaker than he hoped in allowing him to come back from an operation which took place on January 8.
All appeared to be going satisfactorily until the latter part of April. Patrick Mouratoglou, at whose academy he trained in late March, says there did not seem to be any particular problems during his stay there.
Murray has handled his progression, or lack of it, very much on a need-to-know basis, sharing nothing with his fans on social media. What is clear, however, is that he has been inactive on the court for most of the past month due to an unspecified setback.
He missed his target of returning at last week’s Loughborough Challenger and is still down to play at the ATP event in Rosmalen, Holland, which starts on June 11. Tickets are still being sold there using his name.
The official line from his camp remains that he wants to give himself every chance possible to play. According to one source he may try to hit some balls in the coming days, but the chances of him coming back at anywhere near full fitness must be remote.
Djokovic revealed that his old rival is, minimally, still playing a full role in ATP matters, and participated in meetings that took place earlier this month, albeit via technological means.
‘We spoke recently because we are part of the player council, so we had a meeting and he was on the conference call,’ he said. ‘He was very committed for three or four hours being part of that.’
Apart from discussing plans for the Davis Cup, Murray is a supporter of Djokovic’s campaign to establish a union to represent players’ interests. How active he would be as a player if a scheme like that ever takes off is open to question.
When it comes to his own physical problems, Djokovic admitted the full extent of how he is tinkering with his game to try to relieve pressure on the elbow. He is believed to be using a lighter racket, as well as still figuring out his serve, now that he is reunited with his old coach, Marian Vajda.
‘The issue that I had with service motion is that I had to alternate it a lot because of the injury,’ said the 11-times Grand Slam champion. ‘I changed the racket and I started to explore some different technical changes and movements.’
‘If you look at my matches from Australia and Indian Wells and now, I have had three different service motions already this year. At times today I didn’t feel rhythm at all on the serve.
‘At times I feel comfortable and then the speed increases. I’m trying to stick to one motion.’