Novak Djokovic neither confirmed nor dismissed that the bottle incident could have impacted his play in the loss against Alejandro Tabilo at the 2024 Italian Open.
The Serbian player endured a really bizarre situation at the Italian Open this year, as he was hit in the head by a water bottle. He didn't get hit on purpose, but the impact on his head was quite significant.
It was a metal bottle, which dropped from a decent height to hit him in the back of the head, after which he collapsed to the floor. It was a painful moment and he required medical attention, though thankfully, he was cleared to continue competing at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Rome.
His first match after the incident was a third-round match, and Alejandro Tabilo bested him in two sets 6-2 6-3. He didn't look good and never really started to look good during the two-set loss.
After the match, Djokovic was asked about the incident and whether it might have played a factor in his loss, and he neither confirmed nor dismissed the theory. He confirmed that he' will need to get more medical tests done before continuing with the French Open preparations.
"I don't know, to be honest. I have to check that. Training was different. I was going for kind of easy training yesterday. I didn't feel anything, but I also didn't feel the same. Today under high stress, it was quite bad - not in terms of pain, but in terms of this balance. Just no coordination."
"Completely different player from what it was two nights ago. Could be. I don't know. I have to do medical checkups and see what's going on."
He'll have some more time to get ready for the Roland Garros which is a stated priority for him.
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