MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) 鈥 It could be tempting to write off Novak Djokovic at this point, to think he might be closer than ever to being done competing for Grand Slam titles and closer than ever to retirement, where his greatest on-court rivals 鈥 Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray 鈥 already reside.
Perhaps those sorts of thoughts are natural in the immediate aftermath of Djokovic's on Friday with a torn leg muscle. He was when he quit right after dropping the first set against Alexander Zverev, an abrupt end to Djokovic's pursuit of an 11th trophy at and an unprecedented 25th major championship overall.
It was the second time in the past four Slams that Djokovic needed to abandon his spot in the latter stages of the bracket. At last year's French Open, he during a fourth-round victory and withdrew before the quarterfinals, then needed surgery.
Also relevant to the conversation: Djokovic will turn 38 before this year's next major, which begins at Roland Garros in late May. That was in November. , a week older than Djokovic, stopped playing last August (and ). Federer's last Grand Slam match came when he was 39, until the following year.
鈥淗ow much of a worry is it? I don鈥檛 know. It鈥檚 not like I鈥檓 worrying, (when) approaching every Grand Slam now, whether I鈥檓 going to get injured or not. But statistics are against me in a way in the last couple of years,鈥 he acknowledged. "So it is true that (I've been) getting injured quite a bit the last few years. I don鈥檛 know what exactly is the reason for that. Maybe several different factors."
What Djokovic said next is sure to make his fans happy and opponents wary.
鈥淚鈥檒l keep going. I鈥檒l keep striving to win more Slams,鈥 Djokovic said. 鈥淎nd as long as I feel that I want to put up with all of this, I鈥檒l be around.鈥
Keep in mind that Djokovic got hurt late in the first set of his previous match, against 21-year-old Carlos Alcaraz, a four-time major champ who's been ranked No. 1. Despite that, in four sets.
Keep this in mind, too: Less than 1 1/2 months after last season's operation on his knee, Djokovic made it all the way , where he lost to Alcaraz. Three weeks after that, Djokovic made it all the way to the final at the Paris Olympics, where he he'd long wanted to bring home to Serbia.
Djokovic wasn鈥檛 able to give a timeline Friday for how long he鈥檒l be sidelined now. He wasn't quite prepared to commit to returning to the Australian Open, either, when asked if this might have been his last appearance, saying: 鈥淭here is a chance. Who knows? I鈥檒l just have to see how the season goes. ... If I鈥檓 fit, healthy, motivated, I don鈥檛 see a reason why I wouldn鈥檛 come.鈥
There is plenty of evidence that it is a mistake to consider Djokovic done.
Still, there are going to be those who have doubts about Djokovic's health and longevity.
There already were such questions in some quarters, actually, no matter how nonsensical: On-air remarks by a commentator working for the host broadcaster about Djokovic being overrated and a has-been caused a stir during Week 1 of this Australian Open.
No one who knows anything about Djokovic or tennis would use those terms.
鈥淣ovak has done absolutely everything he could on the tennis court in the last 20 years,鈥 said Zverev, who will be seeking his first Grand Slam title when he meets defending champion Jannik Sinner in Sunday's final at Rod Laver Arena.
鈥淗e鈥檚 won this tournament with an abdominal tear, where most players can鈥檛 even continue playing. He鈥檚 won this tournament with a hamstring tear,鈥 Zverev said. 鈥淗e's a 10-time champion. We should all just respect that, in a way, because there鈥檚 nobody in this sport鈥檚 history who has won, and who has done, as much as him.鈥
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Howard Fendrich has been the AP鈥檚 tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: . More AP tennis:
