Novak Djokovic has tweeted for the first time after the frightening incident following his second-round victory at the 2024 Italian Open.
The World No. 1 was playing for the first time in a month after withdrawing from the Madrid Open in the last fortnight. He recovered from a slow start to knock out French lefty Corentin Moutet 6-3, 6-1 in an hour and 26 minutes.
But before Djokovic left the arena, he spent a few minutes on the court signing autographs for his fans. As he approached the exit, he was struck on the head by a metallic bottle that slipped through a fan's backpack and fell to the ground.
The tournament officials assisted Djokovic in getting back on his feet before he went to a medical center within Foro Italico. The doctors gave him "appropriate" treatment and attention, as communicated by the tournament, and allowed him to return to his hotel.
The top seed has insisted that the incident was an "accident" despite an outpouring of backlash from several of his fans on social media alleging otherwise. He also stated that he is well and resting, allaying fears that he might withdraw from the tournament before his third-round match.
"Thank you for the messages of concern. This was an accident and I am fine resting at the hotel with an ice pack. See you all on Sunday."
Some pundits have reacted to the incident, calling it "unfortunate" and hoping that the six-time champion will recover from what has been reported as mild bleeding after the blow to his head.
Andy Roddick told Tennis Channel that he felt "relieved" upon seeing a different angle of the video to clear any doubt that it might have been an obnoxious fan losing his mind. Jim Courier, meanwhile, believes it is not possible to prevent such accidents given the excitement levels.
"You hope it's not a butthead fan doing something ridiculous. We want Novak to be OK. Reports are good; he's going to be fine. I was just relieved cos the first video we saw, from that angle, you hope it's not a fan dropping it on purpose. Listen, it fell out of a backpack. It was a complete accident. It was an unfortunate situation. Happy Novak is okay."
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