Serbia’s Novak Djokovic celebrates winning during the Wimbledon second round match against Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, England, Wednesday (29/6/2022). (ANTARA/REUTERS/Hannah McKay

JAKARTA, lightning.com– Former world number one Novak Djokovic is struggling with a wrist problem to make the most of the year-end closing event of the ATP Finals in Turin in November.

Djokovic’s wrist problem emerged last week while playing in the Laver Cup, in London, England, after not playing in the Americas series due to vaccinations.

“Honestly, I’ve been battling with my right wrist problem for four or five days. Now I’ve overcome it,” Djokovic said, as reported by Reuters on Monday.

He said qualifying for the ATP Finals remains his goal and will still play in the Tel Aviv tournament this week, followed by the schedule in Kazakhstan next week and then the Paris Masters at the end of October.

A 21st Grand Slam victory at Wimbledon in July guarantees Djokovic a ticket to the ATP Finals as long as he stays in the world’s top 20.

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Djokovic, currently ranked seventh, said the wrist issues could be caused by a combination of factors. Long absences from the North American hard-court tour and major US Open tournaments were also part of it.

“Maybe it’s because I haven’t played for almost three months, so the conditions here (London) are such that the ball is really big and slow. You have to do a lot of wrist movement and speed , that’s why I feel sick,” the 35-year-old said.

The three-day tournament at London’s O2 Arena is Djokovic’s first since Wimbledon in early July. But he lost to Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime on the last day of competition on Sunday.

“I couldn’t serve as fast or as accurately as I wanted. It affected the whole game,” Djokovic concluded. (cen)

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