Drama and confusion ensued on Friday as the Australian tennis summer got off to a bizarre start at Adelaide’s Memorial Drive, with controversial world No. 1 men’s tennis ace Novak Djokovic doing a mid-match backpedal on his last-minute decision not to compete because of injury in the form of blisters on his hand.
Replaced in a nick of time by Filip Krajinovic for the match opposite Jannik Sinner, Djokovic suddenly and without warning came strolling out and onto the court to take over from his replacement. This was after Krajinovic had already won the first set against Sinner 6-3.
Although the Serbian had addressed members of the media early on Friday morning, there wasn’t a trace of an indication during his early-morning appearance that he would in fact be missing his first exhibition match. Djokovic’s decision to withdraw was only announced by tennis officials mere minutes before the clash with Sinner was scheduled to commence.
The 33-year-old Serbian was one of a small group of top tennis players to emerge from managed isolation in Adelaide early on Friday morning, after all had been confined to the inside of their hotel rooms for the biggest part of the past 14 days. They were only allowed to leave their individual rooms for supervised training sessions at a single location, being the Memorial Drive tennis complex.
As for Djokovic’s sudden backflip, the Serbian was quick to explain that he had been moved by the enthusiasm and support of the crowd at the Day at the Drive exhibition event, something he says he had not experienced in a very long time.
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