In all my time, I’ve never seen a player box so concerned at 5 love up first set than Goran & co in Djokovic’ box… he’s clearly not well…what mental fortitude to be able to push through it, but there will be limits
"He's clearly not well": Novak Djokovic's physical condition is a concern with limit to 'mental fortitude' says Paul McNamee (updated)
ATPThursday, 25 January 2024 at 23:49
Paul McNamee has raised concerns about the current physical state of Novak Djokovic at the 2024 Australian Open based on reactions from his coaching team including Goran Ivanisevic during his fourth round tie in Melbourne. We updated this article after Novak's match against Fritz Taylor.
Worries have stemmed especially early in Djokovic's campaign with a wrist injury and also illness seemingly blighting the 24-time Grand Slam champion against Dino Prizmic and Alexei Popyrin, but since then he has battled past Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-3, 6-3, 7-6(2) and then saw off Adrian Mannarino without a great deal of fuss 6-0, 6-0, 6-3. But despite the dominance in the latter, Djokovic has admitted after his Etcheverry win that he is struggling with a viral infection.
McNamee himself outlined his concerns as the coaching team looked visibly concerned during the first set despite the World No.1 breezing through his work and leading 5-0. He also suggested that these reactions indicated he was not well while also praising the mental fortitude of the Serbian kingpin to keep going and pushing through it. But despite that, he sees a limit to the amount he can take before it becomes an issue.
Next up was Taylor Fritz for Djokovic who held an abysmal record against the Serbian of 8-0 down and has barely ever won a set over him so perhaps he can nurse himself through to the Quarter-Finals while not being at his best. "In all my time, I’ve never seen a player box so concerned at 5 love up first set than Goran & co in Djokovic’ box… he’s clearly not well…what mental fortitude to be able to push through it, but there will be limits," McNamee posted on X.
This was also confirmed again when he faced Taylor Fritz and had to battle through in five sets with a real struggle early on for the Serbian great who limped through a tie-break and then watched as Fritz took a set and only the conditions changing helped him towards defeat.
Djokovic himself added to this fact afterwards: "The high level of tennis and intensity exerts a lot of effort, and you feel, you know, you're spending a lot of energy and you don't have much time to recover ... you feel you're trapped in this heat, inside and outside." It could be said that this added to concern ahead of his match with Jannik Sinner on Friday.
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