Novak Djokovic's dominance in the tennis world is undisputed, but what he accomplished at this year's Australian Open was nothing short of miraculous.
Despite suffering a severe hamstring injury that left him playing with "half a leg," Djokovic managed to win all seven matches in Melbourne and capture his tenth Australian Open title. Some skeptics have suggested that Djokovic may have exaggerated his injury, but his coach Goran Ivanisevic quickly put those rumors to rest.
In fact, Ivanisevic found it amusing that anyone would think Djokovic would need to fake an injury to win against his opponents. Speaking about Djokovic and his recent injury to Tennis Majors, the Croat said:
“We can’t stop people from saying this or that, let everyone think what they want, but I find it hilarious when someone says: ‘Oh, he faked (the injury) during the match’. Sure, the best player in the world needs to fake an injury to win against a player who would maybe take a few games off of him. He would win either way.”
Before coming to Australia, it was expected that Djokovic may face a challenge in terms of his return to the country after last year's deportation. However, the Serb was warmly welcomed and fans were supporting him from start to finish.
"To sum it up: when you think you’ve seen it all, something new comes up. As I said before, Novak was a bit afraid of the reception in Australia, but everything was perfect since we arrived in Adelaide. The Serbian community backed him there big time, it was as if we were in Belgrade – but the Australian crowd was great as well. Personally, I felt like he had the biggest support ever in Melbourne this year. Not counting that sh*t with injury, everything went smoothly."
Playing with injuries is constant topic in the world of sports, not just tennis. While some athletes are more injury-prone, others can play also through pain and win big titles, as Djokovic and his biggest rival, Rafael Nadal both showed recently.
"Anything is possible in life. As I said, I thought that it was impossible in 2021 too, but he did it. The same doctor he consulted with at that time told us this year that this is impossible, and that she hadn’t seen anything like that in her life. Some people deal with pain better, some worse. I mean, he won seven matches in Melbourne with half a leg, playing the way he played."
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