Djokovic also bids farewell to the Internationals, this year truly the Jella Open. Madrid had already been crippled by the many withdrawals, at this point the ATP would do well to ask itself, instead of chasing super league dreams, how to protect its prestigious tournaments, which unfortunately quite a few of the big names declare they consider ‘training tournaments’ .
The accident on Friday night also played a role in Djokovic’s defeat against the Chilean Alejandro Tabilo, world no. 32, when the water bottle fell (accidentally) from the stands and hit the world number one in the head. Djokovic certainly looked like a shadow of himself today.
«How much did that accident affect? I can’t say”, throws in Djokovic, who after the blow had been treated for half an hour at the Forum but yesterday had trained normally, even showing off an ironic cyclist’s helmet upon arrival at the Forum. «I haven’t taken a test yet, but I will, because today I didn’t have balance or good sensations, I wasn’t even remotely the same player as two days ago. After the accident I felt nauseous, I managed to sleep but I had a headache, yesterday everything seemed normal to me. Today, however, nothing worked. Congratulations to Tabilo anyway, he is an excellent player.”
It’s surprising that an athlete so attentive to his health and to all the smallest details of preparation took to the field if he wasn’t feeling well, or didn’t decide to retire if he immediately realized on the field that he couldn’t perform at his best.” In recent days he had reiterated that his goals for the season were Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the Olympics, certainly not Rome. On the pitch today he seemed more hasty and annoyed than anything else. «What are my expectations ahead of Roland Garros? The same as always”, he cut short. The tournament thus said goodbye to both champions who have monopolized it or almost monopolized it over the last twenty years, Nadal and Djokovic, and without Sinner and Alcaraz from the beginning it now has no real master. As for the Italians, after Passaro’s defeat this morning against the Portuguese Borges (4-6 7-6 7-6), Luciano Darderi remains in the ropes, who closes the central program tonight against Sascha Zverev, and Stefano Napolitano who tomorrow faces Nicolas Jarry.
Meanwhile, good news from Turin: Jannik Sinner’s first tests at J Medical would have highlighted that the hip problem is not congenital, but due to trauma, and therefore in theory easier to resolve. Jannik will soon return to training without a racket, but the prospects for his participation in Roland Garros remain uncertain.
