World No.1 Novak Djokovic decided to hang up his racquet after a series of tough losses in 2018. Djokovic’s wife Jelena Djokovic recalled the tough period and how they got Novak back on the court.
In 2018, Djokovic underwent surgery in an attempt to cure the elbow injury that was troubling him for two years. The Serbian took an extended six-month break in 2017 to recover from the elbow injury. However, he was still experiencing the pain after his return to the tour in January 2018.
He decided to take the drastic action to treat his injury following his fourth-round loss at the Australian Open. Subsequently, he rushed his comeback to the tour after the surgery and experienced two first-round losses at the Indian Wells Masters and the Miami Open. Consequently, Novak decided to quit tennis and told his family that he is stopping.
“I don’t know if I am stopping for six months, a year, or forever” – Novak Djokovic
In an interview at “In Depth with Graham Bensinger“, Jelena Djokovic recalled the time when Serbian retired for almost 10 days.
“He said to me that he’s quitting. He lost in Miami. It was a terrible loss and then he just gather at all of us and said ‘guys I am done’ and I was like what? He said yeah,” said Jelena.
“Then he said Eduardo you can speak with my sponsors. I want to be clear with them. I don’t know if I am stopping for six months, a year, or forever. Just tell them if they feel like staying around they can. If they don’t, I’m happy. I just want to make sure everybody is okay with this,” Jelena added.
“I think it was 10 days of him feeling I am not playing anymore” – Jelena Djokovic
Subsequently, Jelena recalled that they went on a holiday together with the kids when she played tennis with Stefan. She also explained how they enticed Novak to get back on the court again.
She divulged that Djokovic saw how much she and Stefan were having fun being on the court. Subsequently, he asked for a racquet. However, Jelena teased him to leave them the court as he has quit tennis, and it’s their time now but Stefan urged him to take a few balls.
“He took a few balls and started serving and he was like this is not feeling bad. Then we started playing a bit. After that, he was coming every single day with us to play with the kids,” she added.
“The last day he took the shoes and properly dressed. He said I am gonna call Marian and I’m gonna ask him to come back and be my coach again. I think it was 10 days of him feeling I am not playing anymore. But it was that year when he had the surgery and he rushed himself to come back and he didn’t deliver with results,” Jelena concluded.
Novak Djokovic then made a stunning comeback to the tour. He has now clinched five of the last seven Major titles, taking his Grand Slam tally to 17. He has been unbeatable in the 2020 season before the coronavirus shut down. Djokovic would be hoping that the tour resumes soon and he is able to continue his winning momentum.
