Veteran tennis voice Mark Petchey believes Novak Djokovic is carrying an abdominal injury after the Serb’s Wimbledon victory against Holger Rune.
The former World #80 also backed Alex de Minaur to upset Djokovic in the Wimbledon quarters as he feels Aussie is playing best tennis of his career at the moment. Djokovic entered the Wimbledon with a big fitness question mark after sustaining a meniscus tear at 2024 Roland Garros last month and had to have a surgery on the right knee.
However, the 24-time Grand Slam champion has found his footing on the grass courts of All England Club as he made a quick work of Holger Rune with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory in R4 on Monday. The 37-year-old did, though show signs of discomfort during the match as he felt his abdominal areas multiple times.
Addressing the post-match presser, Djokovic said: “I feel good, it was a great match from my side. I feel good about my tennis.
“There are always things to improve and work on, but things are going in the right direction. I like the way I’m playing, especially today against a tough opponent. I’m looking forward to the next match.”
Petchey who is a former coach of British legend Andy Murray has raised the fears that Djokovic may be dealing with a separate physical woe to his right knee.
“I’m not sure if Novak’s not carrying a little bit of an injury,” he told Stan Sport’s Grand Slam Daily.
“Apart from the knee which is the obvious one, a little bit of [concern] on the ab. He looked a little concerned halfway through that second set, talking up to his physio, holding his (abs).
“It was strange but honestly, having worked with someone like Andy Murray and seeing their mentality – at times they need something a little bit different.
“We’ve seen Andy at times walk around like he’s been hit by a sniper, come off, and then you say, ‘what was wrong with that?’, and he would say, ‘there’s nothing wrong.’
“It’s almost as though they need something to drive them. I don’t know whether that was something Novak needed.”
The Brit also weighed in on Djokovic’s fiery feisty affair with the Centre Court crowd after downing Rune.
“I was sitting in the crowd and it was very obvious that it was ‘Rune’ that they were saying rather than booing. He obviously got into his head that they (the crowd) were disrespecting him,” Petchey assessed.
“That is the sort of fire he has shown over the years against better players like Roger [Federer] and Rafa [Nadal] that he needed to perform at his best. It was a little spicy in the [arena] but we love a bit of that.
“I don’t think he was that disrespectful to the crowd, but it will be interesting when he takes on Alex [de Minaur] because we are going to get a very quick temperature gaze of what the crowd and the public think at Wimbledon when he steps out onto the court.”
Regarding 7-time Wimbledon champion’s quarterfinal clash with ATP #9 Aussie de Minaur, Petchey added: “I think it’s Alex’s time, just as it was at the United Cup at the start of the year. I do like his chances.”