LONDON: Novak Djokovic admitted he may need yet more time on the sidelines after he was stunned was stunned in straight sets by Hyeon Chung.
The 58th-ranked Chung relentlessly attacked Djokovic — who is playing his first tournament since Wimbledon because of an injured right elbow — in the 7-6, 7-5, 7-6 fourth-round win.
Djokovic, a five-time winner of the year’s first Grand Slam, played in great discomfort with a recurrence of his right elbow injury. And as if that was not bad enough he also appeared to be suffering from possible hip/groin problems.
And that left the former world No. 1 to contemplate another sustained stint out of action.
“Yeah, unfortunately, it’s not great. Kind of end of the first set it (elbow) started hurting more. So, yeah, I had to deal with it till the end of the match,” Djokovic said.
“Now I don’t know. I have to reassess everything with my team, medical team, coaches and everybody, scan it, see what the situation is like,” he added.
“In the last couple weeks I’ve played a lot of tennis. Let’s see what’s happening.”
Having only confirmed his appearance at the tournament a week before the first round making it as far as the fourth round does constitute some sort of success for the 30-year-old. The elbow injury had prevented him from hitting a shot in anger since last summer and he was at least able to take the positive out of the negative of an early exit.
“I have to say I’m very grateful I had the chance to play. I didn’t know if I’m going to play or not,” Djokovic said.
“So I played four matches here. It was a good tournament. It’s disappointing to go out in the fourth round. The circumstances are such I have to accept it. That’s the reality.
“It’s frustrating when you have that much time and you don’t heal properly. But it is what it is. There is some kind of a reason behind all of this.”
However, Djokovic was keen to stress that Chung more than deserved his win.
“I don’t want to talk about my injury tonight because then I’m taking away Chung’s victory, the credit that he deserves,” the Serb said.
Novak Djokovic admits he needs more time to recover after Melbourne defeat
Novak Djokovic admits he needs more time to recover after Melbourne defeat
Trump said Iran ‘welcome to compete’ in World Cup, says Infantino
US President Donald Trump has said that Iran is “welcome” to participate at the upcoming World Cup in North America, despite the ongoing Middle East war, FIFA chief Gianni Infantino said on Wednesday.
The war, triggered by US-Israeli strikes on February 28, has thrown into doubt Iran’s participation at this summer’s men’s football World Cup, jointly hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States.
During a meeting to discuss preparations for the competition, “we also spoke about the current situation in Iran,” Infantino, the head of world football’s governing body, wrote on Instagram.
“During the discussions, President Trump reiterated that the Iranian team is, of course, welcome to compete in the tournament in the United States,” he wrote.
The comments marked the first time that Infantino, who in December created a FIFA peace prize and awarded it to Trump, has acknowledged the ongoing war in the Middle East.
Trump’s remarks to Infantino are a stark contrast to his comments to Politico last week.
Trump told Politico: “I really don’t care” if Iran play at the World Cup.
FIFA’s president has grown close to Trump since he returned to the White House, even attending his inauguration.
Asylum claims
Iran’s federation football chief on Tuesday cast doubt on his team’s participation in the sporting extravaganza, following the defection of several women footballers from the Islamic republic during the Asian Cup in Australia.
“If the World Cup is like this, who in their right mind would send their national team to a place like this?” Mehdi Taj asked on Iranian state television.
While the event is spread out across three countries, Iran are scheduled to play all three group games in the United States, two in Los Angeles and one in Seattle.
Should Iran withdraw from the sport’s quadrennial showpiece, it would be the first time a country did that since France and India pulled out of the 1950 finals in Brazil.
On Tuesday, at the Women’s Asian Cup in Australia, some players from Iran’s team claimed asylum after they came under fire from state television for not singing the country’s national anthem before one match.
Five players, including captain Zahra Ghanbari, slipped away from the team hotel under the cover of darkness to claim sanctuary from Australian officials, the Australian government announced.
At least two more team members applied to stay later in the day, according to local media.
However, Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said on Wednesday that one of them had subsequently changed her mind.
Burke said in parliament on Wednesday that he had since been advised that one of the group “had spoken to some of the team mates that left and changed their mind.”
“She had been advised by her team mates and encouraged to contact the Iranian embassy,” he said.
“As a result of that, it meant the Iranian embassy now knew the location of where everybody was.”
The remaining players have been moved from a safe house to another location, he said.
