Partial rupture of muscle, 4 weeks absence from court... He will probably miss Asian tour

"rolled his ankle"... Johan... do even read what are you writing or just copy paste it?

Obviously Johan didn't watch the match. That's hilarious zare! His ankle? Maybe it's attached to his lower back somewhere.

Info fixed in this article. Thanks for pointing it out, atg. I covered Spain-France and didn't watch this tie. :(

@cheryl, it is actually zare who noticed.... I stopped reading after title, when I saw "Johan Lindahl" wrote it ;> I just use it as a stub for discussion after I hear latest MRI results...

wait, this article previously said that Djokovic "rolled his ankle" ????????

^^^ "rolled his ankle in the second set after 90 minutes " it still does?

First sentence under bold text:.....LOL...
"The 66-2 player with ten titles in 2011, including three of the four Grand Slams, rolled his ankle in the second set after 90 minutes against Juan Del Potro "

So for now... informations are that Novak will probably miss Beijing and Shanghai ... well lot of points will be gone... just for "choreography" and "acting"...

zare -- I heard he was out for at least 4 weeks. Hopefully he'll be recovered in time for the year-end.

WOW! Didn't see the "rolled ankle" thing twice. It's all fixed now.

ummm how conveneint, McEnroe had the best season of anyone in history when he ended yr with 84w 3L in 1984 I think, his winning percentage was 95.5%, if Djoko stays injured and doesnt play another match until next yr he'll end up with 66w and 2L which makes him 97%, best record in history. If I was him i woulnd't bother playing another game until next yr and go into record books as the most successful player in one season, I'm sure he's smart enough to figure it out, no??

Well if he wins the WTF, regardless of winning percentage - it goes down as one of those seasons that is hard to replicate. 3 GS, 5 Masters Series Titles and WTF hasn't been done before, I think.

What's worrying is whether Nole will rebound strong. I know the injury isn't as bad some others that have happened to players of late, but its always tough to find your feet after a break.

schiavone... what?
If he is playing tomorrow..... he was faking injury....
If he needs some recovery time... he is fixing record???

His season is already best in year... nobody ever did it... only % masters are enough...not to mention GS :)

SCIAVONE, I don't know where people get their numbers I've seen 66 wins but the atp site has djokovic's match record at 64-3. So at the moment djokovic 's match winning percentage is below mcenroe's.

zare, you can look at his season as the best ever. I disagree. Federer won 3 slams, 4 masters and WTF, 12 titles in 2006. I think nobody ever did it too. I'm not saying that djokovic isn't going to win more titles this year. But I think it's best to let the season end and then compare.
But as it stands now it's up for each person to decide wether 3 slams 4 masters abd WTF is better than 3 slams and 5 masters or not.

Hmmm .... retired against Murray in Cincinatti trailing a set and 0-3 .. and afterwards 'injury not serious' and recovered so fast he won USO immediatly afterwards.
Retired in DC ..... trailing a set and 0-3 .. 'injury not serious' - suspiciious!!

Partial rupture of muscle, 4 weeks absence from court... He will probably miss Asian tour.
atg

Where did you get this info?

bleck... Even I am not sure anymore 66 or 64...
What are we counting... from the beginning of season... or even earlier...
Some ppl are counting Hoffman Cup... but I would say that is just expo match...
Before this retirement he was best with 98,6% winnings. Now I don't know... I will search for it.
Fact is ... season is not over yet... but he has his records... ofc Fed has his own... 5 masters or WTF.... yes, you are right... that's depend what you prefer...
My thoughts... forget about Asian tour... heal and get well... I would give all my priorities to Paris and London at the and of year. We will see...
...and I don't say that he will take more tittles for sure... 'till the end of season...
We will wait.

@bleck, information came from Miljan Amanovi?, Novak physio. He said it will take whole month to heal completely and to be 100% ready. I am not sure does that means it will take one month before he starts practicing, or playing. I doubt he will show on Asia tour... And for such a long pause, I think we can officially call streak over.

Regarding best year, I agree that there were better years statistically, with more wins, higher percentage ratio. But I think this is the best year in terms of toughness and competitiveness. Record holder said so, but I doubt that Federer as 2nd best, will ever admit that. So it will stay in gray area, but certainly thing to remember.

I am already bending my schedule trying to watch Paris, I hope he will be ready for that.

I really do not like it when fans insinuate or say that players fake injuries..................this is a hard sport and unless you are there on the court day in day out putting your body through hell, it is not fair to say they are faking when the players say they are hurt.

As a Rafa fan, I know how hurtful it is as Rafa has been on the receiving end of such accusations..........................I just think it is unfair. Let the players be...............

He didnt look like he had back muscle injury while he was smashing his racket during the match. As i see it, his victories went to his head and he could not accept that he is actually NOT UNBEATABLE. So when an "unexpected" guy gives him a beating, he retires with an injury..do i see in him the boy who cried wolf???

Schiavone
He can only surpass Fed's 2006 year when he wins WTC unbeaten.

Fed made it to 4 slam finals. I gues that is better then losing in semi. But i'LL GIVE him second best year if he wins WTC unbeaten. If he wins WTC with a loss tehn it equals Fed's 2006 year as he made it in the final of the fourth slam that should counter out the fifth master he's got.

JPMac's year but he did not play AU Open so he could not lose either, maybe Fed's 2006 is indeed the best year ever. but the winloss wil defintely stay in hands of JPMac. He is not going to play that many matches I guess.
May be next year.

zare, for me the official stats are from the atp website and there it shows 64-3.

sienna, I don't think that he needs to win the WTF unbeaten to surpass federer's 2006 year. If djokovic wins the WTF (losing a match or not) he will have 11 titles including 5 masters, 3 GS and the WTF. If I was to choose between federer's 2006 or djokovic's hypothetical season I described above I would have to go with Djokovic's.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/tennis/09/19/novak-djokovic-inju ry.ap/index.html?sct=tn_t2_a3

"Not as serious as we have thought,'' Djokovic said Monday. "It's a partial rupture of a back muscle that deserves rest.''

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/tennis/09/19/novak-djokovic-inju ry.ap/index.html#ixzz1YUsNBxFI

This is a very carefully worded PR statement. How does one get a partial rupture of a muscle? It's like saying I got a partial cut on my finger, not a whole cut, but a partial cut.

Djokovic will probably skip beijing and shangai to focus on paris and WTF. He can't keep this rythm up, he found it the hard way.

@scoretracker, I had partial rupture of muscle on leg. That means that muscle begin tearing, and just few muscle fibers are torn. So it looks less scary, as muscle keeps his form, but same side effects occur (swelling, hematoma, pain). I saw when whole muscle is teared, it looks scary... you see bump when muscle is loosened at one side like elastic string.

So there is partial muscle tear, as well as partial will to understand such condition.

^^ awesome.

I agree with RITB. Those top guys have a grueling schedule...if they say they're hurt, I have no reason to doubt them.

BTW, davis cup counts as a loss, so that is 3 losses, not 2. I believe McEnroe still has the record.

bleck
The only thing is Fed has reached the fourth slamfinal albeit he lost that final.
But ok if he wins WTC he has surpassed Fed's 2006.

There is only one man who can stop him and that is TMF himself. Nobody needs to think otherwise with Rafa not being close to the Serb (is that allowed?) And we enter indoor hardcourt brrrrrbrrrrrrr not Nadal's best surface.

sienna, I agree the indoor season is nadal's worst chance to beat djokovic or to win a title for that matter. I think it will come down to federer and djokovic (and maybe murray) to battle it out.

P.S.: I sure hope roger can salvage this season by winning the WTF and paris or shangai, since he never won those master's 1000.

This is a very carefully worded PR statement. How does one get a partial rupture of a muscle? It's like saying I got a partial cut on my finger, not a whole cut, but a partial cut.

scoretracker , 9/20/11 3:07 PM


I'll go along with you here. What is a complete rupture as opposed to a partial one? I wonder.

I watched the match between Djoko and Delpo. All I can say is that if Djoko wasn't injured he's got a really great career in acting ahead when he retires from tennis.

I do not believe that Djoko was thinking about his year's stats when he took the court vs Delpo. I think he (and presumably his captain) thought it was Serbia's best chance to pull out the win.

Djokovic has had one of the greatest years ever - to date the best. But, yeah, let's wait until the year is over before calling it the greatest year ever. Roger's 2006, with 3 slams, FO runner up and YEC was pretty darn impressive.

Indoor hard court is Rafa's worst surface, by far, but it's been Roger's best surface lately. Pity if Djoko is sidelined for it. Last I read Djoko is saying that his back injury is not as serious as was first thought, but I haven't seen a guesstimate on when he'll play again.

So after all the misery it's a holiday for four weeks (take the Pod with you Nole!!!!!!!!!)
No Orient no travel nice steady training and potting (withhis special ladyfriend)
Absolutely 100% OK for O2 in London BABY!!!!

Dunno, if anyone watched that video closely when Novak was lying on the ground, but he kept rubbing his left side. I thought at the USO final, it was the right side he was tugging at when the trainer was called.When the trainer came out I didn't see any signs of distres. I saw him chomping away at a bar and drinking stuff.

Nadline, to me it's just common sense like a cut, you either have a cut, large or small, but it can't be a partial cut. The muscle rupture is a muscle strain, where the muscle is not completely torn but just in the middle of the muscle there is a weakness, and the two sides begin pulling. That said, how could it be a partial rupture? As I said nicely worded PR statement.

@ATG, he said it was a partial muscle rupture, not a tear. If that muscle was indeed torn, he would not have been able to do anything, much more pick up a racket. I'm sorry, I don't believe the guy. He's all histrionics. If he were better looking, he'd probably obtain a small part in a pilot show.

I wonder if there was ever a No. 1 that created so much negative press in so little time.

@scoretraker, sorry looks, I partially speak English... didn't know there was much difference between rupture and tear. Inverting facts and playing with words just shows how far you are ready to go.

Anyway, after seeing him partying day after injury, it looks like it is not anything serious which might cripple his career. Like I mentioned, I had partial rupture of peroneus longus muscle on the leg, and last thing I was thinking on was partying. But that was considered as a lower risk injury, as muscle type was not risky one.

I had just one similar experience (non sport) with back and rib muscles with car accident. I had tough lateral crash from the passenger side. And I had terrible strain of rib muscles because of bending over arm rest. Same happened to neck muscles, as I couldn't move neck for a days, and it hurt much more in comparing with ribs. There was no swelling, no hematoma, nothing on MRI for both. Neck thing was over after week but ribs kept me bothering and haunting for a month after that. Very persistent and boring injury.

But again, we are low level creatures comparing to athletes :) Any comparisons are superficial...

@ATG, I was trying to clarify for Nadline the difference between partial rupture and what it means to me. Sorry about your accidents.

Dunno how you view injuries, but I don't think a car accident is the same as an athletic injury. A car accident is 10 times more painful than a back strain acquired in sports.People who have car injuiries sometimes never return to their former selves, while an athletic injury, with time, heals quickly.

As you can see from the pics with Novak partying, he looks fine, and is sitting up. Do you think someone who was in a car crash with a back injury would be able to be out partying or sitting up? I don't think so.

scoretracker

Wooooow...mind checker is realy working....

Djokovic explained that he was carrying the back injury during the USO but "fortunately I was able to play through the pain in the final." No matter how bad his injury there is no way he could have contemplated a retirement. To have done so would have earned him the dubious distinction of being the first player to achieve the career slam of retiring from all four Majors.

As it is, if he can defend his AO title, he is now in line to become the 8th man to win a career grand slam.

ed...don't go to much ahead.. I would like it ofc...but that looks so far away for now...
...then RG.... third man in history.... ok... wake up :)
Any way Asia ahead... with or without Nole... there will be some fancy tennis to watch :))

ST and NL instead of posting "uneducated guess" comments about what is partial rupture/tear, I suggest that you google it.

@scoretracker, I am not sure about car accidents much more different than athletic injuries... If I could choose would I be rather hit by bus again or with DelPo FH... well, there are Air Bags in a car :)

I was lucky with injuries I had, although I am not lucky enough to avoid being injured a lot :) I think that persons who had such experience, know the best from their perspective how though and deceiving injuries can be.

I am surprised that Novak when partying after that retirement day before, it did look more dramatically. However I wouldn't go such far calling it faking. But I must admit there is some strange discomfort how all this ended, and on another hand I am glad again everything is OK with him.

Definitely, this is the worst decision in his career, as this again flamed discussion about retirements.

*Novak went partying...

@atg, my GF's father is a DO, and he has told me that there's nothing worse thana vehicle accident. The damage can last for years, as it affects the entire body. then there's the p;ost traumatic stress disorder, which becomes emotional over time and can have long term deleterious effects . I don't think any injury is easy to deal with, but if I had a choice, i'd much prefer being hurt on a tennis court than having a collision or be struck by a car travelling @ 60 mph.

Yes, the timing of the DC retirement will again revisit the retirements issue. On Tennis.com, there are close to 1,000 entries on the topic, not to mention Yahoo board, Bleacher Reort and other sites. The partying won't help either.

...and there will be lot of guys like you to ensure that is not forgotten ... lol..

I have been trying hard not to weigh in on the 'Nole is faking injury bandwagon' but seriously, it does look like it, simply because his reaction to a back injury was very odd. I think that, a) he did not want to lost infront of his home crowd and b) he doesn't want to tarnish his win/lose record this year.

@nadline, if you are right what kept him from skipping match? He wasn't even supposed to play. By skipping match, he won't lose and record will be still good. I think you are wrong.

Serbia without him didn't chance. His streak started with last year DC final, and he felt that he has to lead Serbia in another one. He underestimated his injury as well as DelPo and he paid price. He said that DC team felt that he 60% fit is better option than Troicki. Victor is 100% fit, but his play went down in last period. I think even that is wrong, but again team decision... but...

I simply can't understand how anyone couldn't come up with basic logic, if Novak is 60% fit, how he can match against 100% DelPo. Again, he said afterward that it is questionable would he beat DelPo if he was 100% fit. Motivation, Magic, Gods, Full Arena, Home crowd, everything was in Novak favor, but you can't beat your body.

But I do feel that his scream wasn't just pure pain... it's all frustration, sorrow, grief... everything that felt apart when he realized that he can't pull this one.

Simply very bad decision.

ed251137, 9/21/11 9:00 AM,

Doesn't Nole need to win RG to complete the career slam? Defending his AO title won't do it, because he already has won this slam.

Regarding the issue of playing in the DC match, I do agree with atg that it was simply a very bad decision. Back injuries can be tricky and sometimes you may think you are feeling better and the injury has healed. Then you go out and push your body by competing at full strength in a tennis match and any movement can cause sudden and acute pain. I understand wanting to play for one's country, but health is the most important thing. This was an unnecessary risk that Nole didn't need to take.

I know what it means to have back problems from a car accident and I would not wish it on anyone.

NNY: My mistake. You are quite right he needs RG to complete his Career Slam. If he were to defend his AO title and also win RG then he would be the first man since Rod Laver to hold the non-Calender Year Grand Slam.

@nadline, if you are right what kept him from skipping match? He wasn't even supposed to play. By skipping match, he won't lose and record will be still good. I think you are wrong.
atg , 9/21/11 8:36 PM


He didn't know Delpo would beat him did he.

@ed, it will be Grand Slam if he wins next AO and RG. Not sure when, but definition changed. You don't need to win all slams in calendar year to complete Grand Slam, because once you manage to be holder of all 4 GS simultaneously you got it!

It is not my understanding that the definition has changed. A true calendar grand slam is winning all four slams in the same calendar year. Laver was the last male tennis player to accomplish this feat. I believe that Steffi Graf also did it, but am not sure of the year.

We had this controversy when Rafa was going for his fourth slam in a row at this year's AO. Some started calling it "the Rafa slam". No male tennis player has managed to win four consecutive slams in a row since Laver in 1969. I believe that Fed had the opportunity to do it in 2006 when he and Rafa played in the RG final, which Rafa ultimately won. He may have had other opportunities, but that is the only one that comes to mind.

Fed fans, feel free to add to this or correct me on this information.

^^^Gladly.;)

Steffi did the one and only Golden Slam : all 4 GS and the Olympic gold medal in 1988.

Roger had chances at 4 GS in a row in 2006 and 2007 at RG.

Side note : Serena had the non-calendar "Serena Slam" 2001-2002 back when I respected her. Of course nobody called it a "player's name-Slam" until this AO when your boy didn't get it.

I will shut up and stop making myself look foolish! I never have been able to get to grips with the definitions.

numero,

Thank you for clarifying the information. I thought that Fed might have had another chance at four slams in a row, but just wasn't sure about the year.

I don't think anyone looks foolish here. It's confusing with all of the different definitions.

numero, the serena slam was during 2002-2003 not 2001-2002. Serena won french, wimbledon and us open in 2002 and australian open in 2003, thus holding all grand slam titles.

There's only one real grand slam and that's the calendar year grand slam. All the rafa slam's and serena slam's that's just stupid names invented by the journos to have something to write about. Of course holding the 4 GS is a feat in itself but there's only one GRAND SLAM.

Hopefully we can get all of the details straightened out. However, it was nice of numero to provide the information about Fed.

As far as winning four slams in a row, that would be considered quite a feat since no male player has done it since Laver in 1969.