MELBOURNE (AUSTRALIA) – World number one Novak Djokovic skipped practice after suffering what he described as a “muscle tear” after slipping during the third set of Friday’s third-round match against Taylor Fritz. Reports said Djokovic will undergo scans on Saturday before a decision on his title defence will be taken.
The 33-year-old, a record eight-time winner on the Melbourne Park Arena is currently awaiting scan results.
The Serbian, who said he was sure it was a muscle tear on his right side, required further attention on the injury during the third set before he went on to grab a five-set win and set up a clash against Milos Raonic on Sunday.
He was not certain if he would be able to recover from his injury and was missing from Saturday’s official training list at Melbourne Park.
Australian Open Chief Executive Craig Tiley was, however, confident that the Serbian will be able to overcome his injury and compete on Sunday.
“We’ll see him. He’s resilient, he’s tough,” Tiley told Australian broadcaster Channel Nine.
“He’ll wake up today and he’ll figure out what it is and he’ll go and get the appropriate treatment. The way he was, those two sets, I was pretty surprised.
“But I’ve seen him play here, this is his court, he gets comfortable on it and he just picks his game up and up and he’s that good.”