Novak Djokovic is seemingly dealing with an elbow injury but the Serbian isn't willing to discuss it as it can be used against him.
Djokovic has returned to winning ways in Rome playing some of the best tennis he played on clay this year. The elbow issues seem to be a persistent thing that still bothers him but it's not a topic he's willing to discuss.
It proved a problem in Monte-Carlo, it bothered him in Banja Luka and he skipped over Madrid because of it as well. Now he's back to playing well enough but he's not at a level that would be enough to win Roland Garros - which is a goal for him. The injury probably plays a part in that but nobody knows the extent of it as Djokovic doesn't want to talk about it as he told Telegraf.
I don't want to talk about physical difficulties, because all that is used in rival camps. I am glad that I somehow managed to break the ice and finish the match in two sets. That's what matters. It's not the first time, with my team I got used to how to position myself, in a faster and better way, today it wasn't ideal honestly, I felt pain during the warm-up, I didn't have much time, basically I went into the match with difficulties.
Pain in the elbow is certainly not a good sign and it's not going to go away on its own. It might even require surgery which is what happened to Tsitsipas when he dealt with his elbow injury. He played through the pain for a while but ultimately elected to get surgery because he wasn't playing as well as he can.
Time will tell whether Djokovic follows that path considering that Wimbledon is not too far away either. Any kind of surgery right now would likely mean that he would miss Wimbledon and that's not an option for him. Not after the competition for it looks rather weak.
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