Elbow injuries have troubled Novak Djokovic for a long time in his career. He suffered from a major injury on his right elbow in 2017 and had to call it quits in the middle of the season. The Serbian player had his first surgery on his elbow in 2018 after battling with the issue for two years. But it was not an easy decision for him. Djokovic had been dreading the surgery for quite a while before he realized that in order to retain his powerful serve on the court, he would have to undergo the surgery.

The tennis legend went back to one of the worst experiences of his life when he thought he had ‘killed all his pain sensors.’ Delving deep into the most painful phase of his life, Novak Djokovic opened up about how he felt ‘guilty’ after the surgery.

Novak Djokovic on confronting his pain

Injured during Wimbledon‘s quarterfinals in 2017, Djokovic announced his hiatus from the competition to heal a chronic injury to his right elbow. “It was getting worse and worse because I killed all my pain sensors, basically. And then it got to a point where I was playing Wimbledon quarterfinals and I could not serve. I could not lift my arm, and then I knew it was over, and it was a moment for me to really take some more radical action,” Djokovic said in a recent interview.

He further described the exact moment he realized that the pain was too excruciating for him to go on without undergoing any medical attention. He went away from the field for the rest of the season of that year before re-emerging in better shape and winning the Wimbledon of 2018 in the latter half of the year.

“I took the rest of the season out, and I did not want to play because I tried all the different methods of healing myself and my injury. And I started training for the next season, and I felt the pain again, but I anyway went to play Australia, and then I realized I have to take surgery, so I did that, and 6 weeks later I was back,” he further added.

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Novak Djokovic has previously expressed his opinion on how he prefers a self-healing mechanism to anything unnatural. Not only that, he has also expressed his view of never wanting to be in a situation where he has to undergo another surgery.

Djokovic’s regret after his elbow surgery

Novak Djokovic has always been vocal about how he wants to avoid surgeries, saying he is ‘not a fan of surgeries or medication’. But he described his elbow surgery as an important part of his career and regretted why he had not done it earlier.

“Luckily for me, the surgery was done right, very well. But I was feeling guilty for maybe a month or two afterwards—through March and April this year,”  Djokovic said, referring to the two months after his surgery in 2018.

Besides demonstrating his prowess as a tennis player, Novak Djokovic’s victory on Wimbledon’s historic grounds also demonstrated his unshakeable resilience in the face of difficulty. By defeating his suffering, he had elevated himself to a new version, becoming a true champion.

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