Former doubles world number 1 Paul McNamee defended Novak Djokovic of the criticism he received for the injury suffered at the 2023 Australian Open, through a post on Twitter. He wrote: «I want to be very clear: in the first week of the tournament, Novak Djokovic moved very badly.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out that he had an injury. He handled it with great intelligence and proved to be a living legend. How did he do it? The reason is simple: he is still the best player in the world and has a constant margin over everyone else.» The Serbian champion will be busy in Dubai at the end of February (February 27-March 4), but will have to miss the Indian Wells and the Miami Masters 1000 like last year.
The ATP number 1 is still unable to enter the United States due to his vaccination status and he will hardly try to force the situation. Nole could be outclassed by Stefanos Tsitsipas. On Sunday, January 29, Novak Djokovic edged past Stefanos Tsitsipas to win his tenth Australian Open.
The Serbian phenomenon has equaled his eternal rival Rafael Nadal in 22 Grand Slams and will try to surpass him now at Roland Garros, scheduled for the end of May on the clay of Paris. As if that were not enough, the 35-year-old from Belgrade returned to the top of the world ranking, unseating Carlos Alcaraz from the throne after 20 weeks of reign.
Nole dominated the Australian Open far and wide, dropping just one set in seven matches.
It will not touch him in Dubai
Speaking on The Big Deal – Australian Sports Business Podcast, Cahill praised Novak Djokovic’s ability to find weaknesses in his opponent’s game.
«I’ve actually heard Andrea Petkovic describe Novak as being like water because you can get it but you can’t really hold on to it,» Cahill said. «And I think that’s a really good way to describe Novak because he finds a way to go through every crack and every crevice to break the opponent’s game and find weaknesses.
And his movement and his professionalism is second to none. I mentioned Federer before pioneering what he was able to do 15 years ago over a long period of time. but these guys [Nadal and Djokovic] they have taken it to a whole new level, especially Novak.
I’ve never seen anyone take care of their body and be more professional than Novak, with everything he does to get his body back to where it is.»
