"I felt the need to react": Novak Djokovic reveals how comments from John McEnroe pushed him to share MRI after Australian Open retirement

Serbia’s legendary tennis star Novak Djokovic has hinted that harsh words from the former world number one John McEnroe was one of the reasons which pushed him to share his MRI scan after withdrawing from the Australian Open. The 37-year-old is regarded as the greatest player in the history of men’s tennis in the singles category, having won as many as 24 Grand Slam titles.

Djokovic’s most recent appearance in a Grand Slam came in Melbourne earlier this year. He was forced to retire from the semifinal against Germany’s Alexander Zverev after just the first set. The former world number one suffered the injury during the quarterfinal against Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz but miraculously managed to stay on the court and cemented his spot in the last four despite losing the first set.

During the match, McEnroe, who was working for one channel as a broadcaster, questioned Djokovic’s injury by stating: "This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this routine. Don’t be fooled.” A few days later, the Belgrade-born star shared an image of his MRI showing the gravity of the injury he sustained during the competition. Djokovic has been recently quoted in a report where he stated that one of the primary reasons for doing that was to answer critics like McEnroe who questioned his injury.

"Well, I was provoked by the fact that several times in a row, as long as I was in Australia, I was injured on the 21st and the 23rd,” he said. “I can't say everyone, but I felt a fairly large group of people thought that it was not true and that my injuries were actually some kind of provocation on my part or to play strategic mental games with my opponents. And I would not have reacted if some legends of our sport had not reacted. I think that when some things remain on social media, that's fine, but when it escalates to the point where people have a dilemma and simply question my integrity and the credibility of what I said. Especially when it comes from some people who are really legends of the sport and who have a multi-million audience that listens to them when they broadcast the matches, then I felt the need to react, to show the recording from the MRI.”