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Djokovic bullied by a blister
Hobbling and in pain, Novak Djokovic didn't want to risk making his injuries worse.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: July 09, 2007 06:06 PM IST
Read Time:2 min
Wimbledon, England:
The fourth-seeded Serb was forced to quit while playing 2006 Wimbledon finalist Rafael Nadal on Saturday in the semifinals at the All England Club because of a blister on his left foot.
"I had to retire because I wanted to avoid forcing that injury and making it more serious for the future," Djokovic said. "It's not just the blister I have. It's a big infection from yesterday after the match."
Djokovic said he even considered withdrawing before the match because of blister and back pain following Friday's quarterfinal win over Marcos Baghdatis.
That 7-6 (4), 7-6 (9), 6-7 (3), 4-6, 7-5 win took exactly five hours, just five minutes shy of the longest Wimbledon singles match ever playaid of his blister. "I didn't sleep during the night because I had a lot of bleeding and everything, so I was barely walking this morning."
Djokovic, who also lost to Nadal in this year's French Open semifinals, will now rest for two weeks. Then he plans one more European tournament in Umag, Croatia, before preparing for the US Open by playing at the Montreal and Cincinnati Masters tournaments.
"I'm going to try to reduce my tournaments as much as I can because I've played a lot, really a lot of matches. I'm not used to that," Djokovic said. "I had a really difficult season. No rest basically in six, seven months."
Still, he is sure he will get more chances at glory in the future.
"I got to look on a positive side," Djokovic said. "I showed here that I really deserve being in (the) last four in Wimbledon, and I think all the major tournaments."
Hobbling and in pain, Novak Djokovic didn't want to risk making his injuries worse.The fourth-seeded Serb was forced to quit while playing 2006 Wimbledon finalist Rafael Nadal on Saturday in the semifinals at the All England Club because of a blister on his left foot.
"I had to retire because I wanted to avoid forcing that injury and making it more serious for the future," Djokovic said. "It's not just the blister I have. It's a big infection from yesterday after the match."
Djokovic said he even considered withdrawing before the match because of blister and back pain following Friday's quarterfinal win over Marcos Baghdatis.
That 7-6 (4), 7-6 (9), 6-7 (3), 4-6, 7-5 win took exactly five hours, just five minutes shy of the longest Wimbledon singles match ever playaid of his blister. "I didn't sleep during the night because I had a lot of bleeding and everything, so I was barely walking this morning."
Djokovic, who also lost to Nadal in this year's French Open semifinals, will now rest for two weeks. Then he plans one more European tournament in Umag, Croatia, before preparing for the US Open by playing at the Montreal and Cincinnati Masters tournaments.
"I'm going to try to reduce my tournaments as much as I can because I've played a lot, really a lot of matches. I'm not used to that," Djokovic said. "I had a really difficult season. No rest basically in six, seven months."
Still, he is sure he will get more chances at glory in the future.
"I got to look on a positive side," Djokovic said. "I showed here that I really deserve being in (the) last four in Wimbledon, and I think all the major tournaments."
Topics mentioned in this article
Tennis Wimbledon 2011
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