NOVAK DJOKOVIC GIVES EMOTIONAL 'REALITY' STATEMENT AS ICON ADMITS EXTENT OF INJURED BODY
Novak Djokovic gave a candid admission about his body after receiving a medical time out during his French Open third-round victory. The 36-year-old confessed that he was trying to adjust to the reality of dealing with a long list of injuries.
Djokovic gave an insight into his physical woes as he admitted that he was carrying multiple niggles at this stage in his career. While they weren't stopping him from playing, the Serb said he sometimes needed help to get through a match - including medical time outs.
The world No 3 carried a hamstring tear during his Australian Open victory earlier this year and was seen receiving a massage to the same thigh after winning the second set of his third-round match against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. And he was brutally honest about his injury woes when quizzed over the medical time out.
"Look, we don't have much time to start to name the many injuries I have, and the list is quite long," he said after winning in three hours and 36 minutes. "So, I mean, you know, I don't want to sit here and talk about these things that are not preventing me from playing. I still kept on playing."
While Djokovic was still able to play, he confessed that he sometimes needed some extra support. He continued: "These are the circumstances that you, as a professional athlete, have to deal with. Accept it.
"Sometimes you need help from physio during the match. Sometimes you need pills. Sometimes you need help from the god or angels, or whoever. Sometimes you just have to deal with the reality."
And Djokovic said that reality was changing compared to when he was younger as he continued to learn to adjust to his physical capabilities. "Reality for me nowadays is that, yeah, my body is responding differently than it did few years ago," he explained.
But Djokovic knew that he was still able to get the job done in matches, adding: "You know, I have to adjust to this new reality, so to say.
"But at the end of the day, I managed to finish the match, as I said. And, you know, on the court you try to do your best, everything possible, so you can finish the match and win. That's what happened in the end."