Novak Djokovic has addressed the denial of a medical timeout for a wrist injury during his 2024 United Cup loss to Alex De Minaur.
Djokovic came into the contest with Australian De Minaur with some discomfort in his wrist, but the Serbian world number one decided to play on. The decision possibly worked against Djokovic as he eventually fell to a two-set defeat to De Minaur (6-4, 6-4) and now faces a race against time to recover for the Australian Open.
During the clash, Djokovic called for a medical timeout with the tournament physio as his wrist concern required additional attention, but the 36-year-old was denied further treatment.
In response, Djokovic explained that the physio was unable to provide further care for his wrist injury and that a communication breakdown was the cause for what looked like an angry exchange.
"Well, I mean, I asked for the medical timeout, but he said that you can't get medical timeout. You can only get a changeover if the injury is already existing, he explained."
"So I didn't understand really what that means. But he said that -- I told him that it was improving, so that's why he didn't think that I should get a medical timeout. I said it was improving before the match, but then as the match progressed yesterday and also today particularly was getting worse, so I needed treatment. He didn't want to give me one."
Overall, it was a frustrating evening for Djokovic as his 43-match winning streak in Australia came to an end at the hands of De Minaur. Perhaps more concerning for the 24-time Grand Slam winner, though, is his wrist complaint that seemed to cause some discomfort.
With the Australian Open starting in just 11 days, Djokovic now faces a race against time to recover and mount a title challenge at Melbourne Park this season.
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