"You feel dizzy and dehydrated": Novak Djokovic details problems with stomach bug at 2023 Paris Masters

Novak Djokovic provided further details on the problems he faced due to a stomach bug at the 2023 Paris Masters and how he dealt with this on the court.

The World No. 1 continued his dominant season last week as he secured his seventh Paris Masters victory and 40th ATP Masters 1000 title by defeating Grigor Dimitrov in the final 6-4, 6-3. However, things could have gone very differently for Djokovic in Paris during the early stages of the tournament, as he revealed in the second round that he was suffering from a stomach bug.

Nevertheless, the 36-year-old was able to battle through the sickness to win the title. After his win, he was asked for some tips on how to recover from a stomach virus by a reporter whose wife was struggling with a similar thing.

"I’m not a doctor so I’m unable to give medical advice," Djokovic joked, smiling, "I guess, you know, everyone is different, but, you know, for me hydration is the key, I think, for anything, really. I can’t talk on behalf of your wife or anybody else, you know, what kind of diet helps or doesn’t help."

He then went on to talk about the specific problems he encountered while he was ill and how he was able to overcome them on the court.

"You know, I couldn’t eat much really these days, so I probably would eat only once in a day, and then I wouldn’t eat anything. Just be on liquids, because anything that I, you know, would put in my mouth, it would go out very quickly (smiling). And then of course you feel dizzy, you feel dehydrated all the time. You feel weak.

"But I guess, you know, for a professional athlete, once you are out on the court, it’s basically very clear. Either you let the circumstances and the feelings that you have at that moment master you or you try to master them in a way. So there’s no in between.

"So you either fold, retire, or just, you know, kind of give away the match, or you try to draw the energy from the adrenaline that you’re feeling from the crowd, from the momentum that you’re feeling on the court. That’s what kind of helped me to have extra, I think, extra push, extra energy this week," he continued, before adding that the day of the final was the first time that he felt fully better.

"I experience the stomach bugs like anybody else. Maybe for me it lasted shorter than for your wife, I’m not sure, but it was three, four days of big struggle. So Sunday was the first day that I have been actually feeling that it’s behind me," he added.