“I felt nauseous, dizzy, bleeding…” | Relief
Tennis is going through strange times. With Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner injured and absent from Rome, the focus of the Italian Masters 1000 tournament was on two old rockers: Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. The first said goodbye on Saturday, and the second followed the same path this Sunday.. But although Nadal was in some ways more understandable, Djokovic’s success is simply bomb.
Number one in the ATP rankings lost with an incredible score of 6-2 and 6-3 against Chilean Alejandro Tabilo.32nd in the world rankings, and said goodbye to Rome in the third round. Since his debut at the tournament in 2007, Djokovic has always reached the quarterfinals.
The defeat adds to Djokovic’s doubts right at the gates of Roland Garros, where he will defend his title starting May 26. The Serb will reach his second Grand Slam with just 12 wins the distance and no title in his pocket..
The last time Djokovic competed at Roland Garros without a title was in 2018.. The Serbian lost in the quarter-finals to Italian Marco Cecchinato, although he won Wimbledon and the US Open a few months later and finished the year as number one.
Consequences of a bottle crash?
Of course, these were not Djokovic’s best days in Rome. On Friday, while signing autographs, he was accidentally hit in the head with a metal bottle and had to be treated by doctors.
“I don’t know if it affected me. I have to check. The training was different. I didn’t feel anything special, but I didn’t have the usual sensations either.“, he noted after the 24-time Grand Slam champion.
“Today was pretty bad, not from a pain point of view, but from a balance point of view. I just didn’t have the coordination. I was a completely different player than two days ago. Perhaps this had an impact. “I don’t know, I’ll have to get tested and see what happens.”
“It was a very unfortunate situation for me. It was an accident. The boy was leaning on the fence, the bottle fell out of the backpack and fell right on my head. It was something unexpected,” the number one added. “I felt a very strong blow to my head. After that, I received medical attention, and I spent half an hour to an hour with nausea, dizziness, blood and a lot of different things. “I managed to sleep well, but I had headaches.”
“I had a good time yesterday so I thought I was fine. Or maybe there’s nothing wrong with me. Or maybe not. I mean, Today I felt on the court as if another player was wearing my shoes. There was simply no rhythm, no tempo, no balance. It’s a little worrying“.