Back to his best! The 24-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic is now two matches away from becoming the ‘Undisputed GOAT’ of the open era as he chases his 25th Slam of his career at the Australian Open. He also reached his 50th Grand Slam semi-final at the AO, extending his gap with Roger Federer by 4 as he beat Carlos Alcaraz in a four-set thriller. However, does this achievement at the current AO come at any cost? Looks like it does! Andrea Petkovic, a former pro, has expressed her insights regarding the ongoing health challenges that Novak Djokovic has been experiencing during the current tournament. 

In the recent QF match of the ongoing AO against Carlos Alcaraz, Djokovic seemed to struggle with his fitness. In front of a packed Rod Laver Arena, Alcaraz was cruising in the first set and managed to take a 5-4 lead before Djokovic took a medical timeout in the middle of the set and as he returned, his left leg was heavily strapped while he was supported by his new coach Andy Murray. However, despite the injury, the Serb maestro managed to win the following three sets and ended the match by booking his place at the AO SF (4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4). Even Novak’s after-match interview summed up his injury problems.

“How did I win? With my two legs and two arms, I guess. One and a half legs, in fact! If I lost that second set I don’t know if I’d continue playing… When the medications start to release I’ll see what the reality is tomorrow morning,” he said. Now just before his SF clash against Alexander Zverev, Andrea Petkovic shed some light on her visual experience regarding Novak’s injury mishap.

Speaking on the ‘The Rennae Stubbs Podcast‘ that aired on Tuesday, Petkovic reflected on Djokovic’s third-round match against Tomas Machac. “Well, my thoughts are that I did his match against Machac and he was really struggling, and medically as I saw him puke right in front of me. Yeah, he puked in the towel box and not in towel box, next to the box. So there is something going on with him.”

Djokovic was struggling with a stomach bug in the match against Machac and in the second set, he was on his haunches several times, battling for breath between points. But he still managed to win in straight sets. “I was slightly surprised, to be honest, with the result,” the Serb said in his post-match interview.

As things stand, the Serbian will now face German sensation Alexander Zverev in a heavyweight SF clash tomorrow at the Rod Laver Arena. However, his situation is dire. He is definitely not 100%.

‘Didn’t know if I would continue playing,’ Novak Djokovic on his injury struggles in the Alcaraz match

Three hours and 37 minutes! That’s the time Novak took to beat Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz to book his place in the SF. Why does time matter? Well, he played most of the time battling with his leg injury, particularly in the first set when he was trailing 4-5. Just after the match, the Serbian shed light on his injury crisis.

“Well since I’m still in the tournament, I don’t want to reveal too much obviously. But yeah, the medication started to kick in and that helped, no doubt. I had to take another dose. This sounds awful! Me taking another dose. But I had to. I didn’t know, to be honest, if I lost the second set I didn’t know if I would continue playing. But I felt better and better, and managed to play a great couple of games to end the second set,” he said.

That’s not all! The Serbian further talked about it while speaking to the Eurosport journalist Barbara Schett. 

“I wanted [to be emotionless]. We both feed off the energy of the crowd. The crowd was also a bit hesitant to cheer for one or the other. They didn’t know what was happening; they saw I wasn’t moving as well. Maybe they expected me to retire. I have to admit that I was considering that. I didn’t know how I’d react. A great win. Very proud of this performance. I keep on going. I’ve got another paramount challenge on Friday against Zverev, who is in red-hot form. It’s just trying to be able to move now and produce my best tennis,” he added. 

Despite the injury problems, the Serbian will now go head-to-head against Zverev, with whom he has an 8-4 record in competitive games. The duo last met at the ATP Masters 1000 Cincinnati SF in 2023 where Djokovic won in straight sets.

Speaking about his SF opponent, Novak remarked, “I mean definitely it’s going to be challenging from every aspect. I mean I’m playing Zverev who is in great form and he’s going for his first Grand Slam and he’s been close and I mean I’ve seen him play and practice with him as well here. I mean he loves the conditions he’s got a big serve and it’s just super dangerous opponent this surface against anyone,”. 

Do you think Novak will make his way to another AO final? Or Sascha will beat the Serbian this time around? Comment your thoughts below!