'Don't leave me,' roars Novak Djokovic after battling injury to win his third-round match at the 2021 AUS Open

World No. Novak Djokovic showed what champions are made of as he battled injury midway through the game to win against 27th seed Taylor Fritz in another thrilling 5-set game at the 2021 Australian Open on Friday.

By expectations, seeded Djokovic looked poised for a comfortable win before injury hit him during the third set. The 33-year-old Serbian slipped on the court and uncomfortably split his legs, pinching the right side of his abdomen.

The incident saw him opt for a medical timeout, but he didn’t look the same after he returned to the court. Djokovic was seen in pain on multiple occasions, especially while playing his forehand. The 23-year-old American took advantage of it and broke Djokovic’s serve before winning the third set.

During the break between sets, Djokovic was seen rubbing the ointment on himself as he had already received help once. He lost the fourth set 4-6, but the break during it to empty the stands gave the 8-time champion some time to rally and bounce back to his game A. In particular, Victoria entered a Covid-19 lockout of five days and citizens were ordered to enter their homes before midnight. The crowd supported the American with all their hearts during his time in the arena.

Djokovic had to pass a litmus test in the fifth set and he did so with great success. He played some exquisite tennis shots to stomp on Frotz in the deciding set and completed a 7-6 (1), 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-2 victory.

As soon as he won the close match, he leaned back and roared, “Don’t leave me, don’t leave me.” He repeated the same words after a few seconds before approaching the presenter to speak with him.

Speaking of his injury, Novak Djokovic said he expected a muscle strain, adding that he was unsure about his involvement in the fourth-round match against Marin Cilic.

“Well obviously, mentally and emotionally, I feel really good. I mean … it’s such a relief to get through in these kinds of conditions that I found myself in … it was a ‘one of a kind’ kind of match Me, that’s what I said on the court, and I mean it, it’s one of the best moments I’ve had in my career under these kinds of circumstances.

“Obviously I don’t want to talk about the intensity, or the level of injury, or the pain, obviously it’s not going to matter much, because people don’t understand what you’re going through on the court. The way you felt At the beginning of the third set , when I got my first time out of a doctor, I was debating really hard in my head to withdraw the match after two games, because I just couldn’t move, couldn’t rotate, couldn’t go back, all I could do is serve, and that is what got me out of trouble

“I served first two serves, I knew my only chance is if I do a good serve and push their serve games, what happened. And whatever is going on here. [the injury] I improved in the fifth and was able to start playing and start returning some serves.

“That gave me a couple of crucial breaks … you know I’m obviously very, very proud of this, but at the same time I’m also a bit worried, I don’t know what’s going on, I think it’s a tear. I had this strange feeling in a of the laps, just before going out to do the medical time-out, and I knew right away that something not so big was happening and it was confirmed by an ATP physio.

“But I don’t know, let’s see, I don’t have a great experience with tears in terms of continuing in the tournament, so that’s something that’s in the clouds for me right now, if I’m going to hit the court in two days. , God willing, I can play, “he said after the victory.