DJOKOVIC GETS ELBOWED OUT
Injured Novak crashes to Chung
Novak Djokovic’s departure from the australian open was pained and alarming: six months on from Wimbledon and his elbow is still causing him problems.
Unlike Roger Federer last year, there will be no triumphant return from a long break, just a scan on the problem area and a discussion with his support team about where he goes from here. He leaves an enormous hole in the draw that, for the quarter-final in his section, will be filled by two players with an aggregate ranking of 155.
There will be the bespectacled korean who knocked him out, 21-year-old Hyeon Chung, and Tennys Sandgren from Tennessee, the american journeyman who is getting used to explaining that he was not named after the sport he plays.
Chung, long seen in the sport as a serious prospect and champion of the aTP’s nextGen championships in november, showed what the fuss is about. almost a mirror image of Djokovic with a counterpunching game based on speed and agility, he showed skill and composure in running out a 7-6, 7-5, 7-6 winner. It should not be underestimated how difficult it can be to face an opponent carrying physical issues, but Chung does not seem the type to be easily distracted.
His white glasses almost appeared like blinkers, such was his focus, and this will surely not be the last time he appears at this stage of a Grand Slam.
as for Djokovic, like his direct contemporary andy Murray, we will have to wait and see. Playing his first tournament since Wimbledon, it was hardly a disaster to make the last 16, but there was a sense of dejection about him afterwards when he discussed his predicament.
‘It’s not great,’ he said of his elbow, which required a medical timeout on court. ‘End of the first set it started hurting more. So I had to deal with it until the end of the match.
‘It’s frustrating, of course, 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. I’m just trying my best because I love this sport.’
Having grimaced in pain at various times, while remaining competitive, he will have his elbow examined, and could not be sure when he will next play.
‘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. The last couple of weeks I played a lot of tennis. let’s see what’s happening inside.’
again, the problem was at its worst with his serve, which has already been remodelled to a shorter motion to try to relieve stress on the elbow. ‘I felt the level of pain was not that high that I need to stop the match, even though it was compromising my serve,’ he said.
Having begun his australian open trying to rally players to fight for better pay and conditions, he finds himself redundant again. Yet, despite his physical problems, he might have battled past a less doughty competitor.
Chung was originally steered towards tennis because his parents were told it might aid his eyesight.
He has emerged as a rare talent from a country better known for its love of golf, and is likely to end up as an extremely wealthy young man if he can establish himself as a major asian star.
In a much more familiar match-up on the other side of the draw, Roger Federer has made the quarter-finals without dropping a set and now faces his old foe Tomas Berdych.