Novak Djokovic Loses In Paris; His Dad Is Ill In Serbia

Written by: Staff on 1st November 2012

BNP Paribas 2012 Masters Tennis Tournament

Novak Djokovic Loses In Paris; His Dad Is Ill In Serbia

epa03453449 Novak Djokovic of Serbia returns the ball to Sam Querrey of the USA during their second round match at the BNP Paribas 2012 Masters tennis tournament in Paris, France, 31 October 2012. EPA/IAN LANGSDON |

Novak Djokovic’s early exit from the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris was initially met with surprise as he started strongly and then effectively folded against the American Sam Querrey.

Then the news that the world no.1’s father, Srdjan has been hospitalized in Serbia with a serious and acute respiratory condition put things into perspective.

Djokovic’s Parisian preparations were interrupted over the weekend as he flew back to Belgrade to visit his father in the hospital. However, speaking after his peaking after his 0-6, 7-6, 6-4 defeat, Djokovic refused to answer questions about the matter, but admitted: “I traveled a lot. Let’s call it that way, even though I was here.”

There were conflicting reports from Serbia about his father’s condition. Belgrade newspaper Blic, carried a story saying Srdjan had been diagnosed with SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), a highly contagious and potentially life-threatening form of pneumonia, and quoted a hospital source as saying: “The situation is really grave because in almost 80% of cases it may end fatally.”

It was also reported that Srdjan was suffering from sepsis, an acute illness caused by the body overreacting to an infection. However, the Bloomberg news agency said Srdjan might be discharged in ten days’ time and quoted Goran Djokovic, his brother, as saying: “Srdjan has pulled through. The worst is behind him.”

There have been reports that Djokovic himself has been suffering with a stomach problem, perhaps brought on by worries over his father’s health. Without going into any details, Djokovic admitted after his defeat that he had feared his energy levels would be low in the match.

“During the second set I already felt that physically I’m down, and I struggled in every game,” he said. “It was a little bit of everything really. I’d rather not talk about it because it’s going to sound like I’m excusing myself for the loss. Sam played very well.”

The situation will cast doubt over Djokovic’s fitness and frame of mind going into next week’s year-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, which start in London on Monday. However, the Serb did point out that losing early here should help him to recover in time for the year-ending finale at the O2 Arena.

“I have a little bit more time to rest because I had a really difficult period in the last couple of weeks,” he said. “Some things happened and a lot of things have been on my mind and I have had things to do, so right now I just need a couple of days’ rest before London.”

He added: “There is no guarantee that you can be 100 per cent, especially at this time of year. The players have played so many matches and are obviously struggling to be fresh, but you’re trying to find that last drop of strength, mental and physical, in order to play your best. These are big tournaments and there is definitely no compromising, no thinking of maybe skipping the event or playing less or saving energy in order to play well in London. So it was never the case for me. I tried all the way through to the end of this match, but I had a better opponent and I move on.”

©Daily Tennis News Wire

Topics: French tennis news, Novak Djokovic, Paris Masters, Sam Querrey, Serbia tennis news