Novak Djokovic Pushes Through Odd Arm Injury to Reach Indian Wells 4th Round

Novak Djokovic will be locking horns with Jack Draper for the second time in his career.

Novak Djokovic Pushes Through Odd Arm Injury to Reach Indian Wells 4th Round

Novak Djokovic (Image via X/SK)

In Short
  • Novak Djokovic advanced to the fourth round of Indian Wells, overcoming an arm injury.
  • He expressed that serving helps alleviate his forearm pain, which fluctuates during matches.
  • Djokovic is set to face defending champion Jack Draper in the next round, anticipating a tough challenge.

Novak Djokovic once again survived a scare at Indian Wells. After overcoming a first-set deficit to knock out Kamil Majchrzak in the opener, Djokovic eliminated Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 to reach the fourth round of the tournament for the first time since 2017.

Throughout his third-round match, Djokovic struggled physically. The Serb, who has been wearing a compression sleeve on his right arm, addressed the “odd” problem he has been dealing with during his interview with Tennis Channel.

I’ve been struggling the last couple of weeks with that forearm and trying to go through it. It’s a bit odd: The more I serve, the better I feel, but then it comes on and off if I get cold. If I don’t serve for five or six minutes, then I feel like the first couple of serves of that game are a bit painful. I’m working through it. It’s not something I haven’t faced before. It’s the ins and outs of being a tennis player at this level, but overall, the body is feeling okay. Hopefully, it’s going to get better every day.

Djokovic, even though he holds the record for most titles along with Roger Federer in the California desert (won five each), last lifted the title in 2016 by defeating Milos Raonic, and since then, he has yet to reach the quarterfinals.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion is competing in his second tournament of the season. Before the first Masters 1000 of the season, the Serb was denied his 25th Grand Slam title by Carlos Alcaraz in the Australian Open final.

Novak Djokovic will lock horns with Jack Draper

Novak Djokovic has been managing his body as well as his mental state on a daily basis to withstand the challenges coming from the youngsters. He is expecting a tougher challenge in the fourth round, as he is set to face defending champion Jack Draper, who knocked out Francisco Cerundolo.

Jack Draper US Open 2025 arm injury
Jack Draper (Image via Matt Fitzgerald)

It’s not going to get easier from here… Jack Draper is next, who is the defending champ and playing at a really high level again, but I love the challenge. That is one of the biggest reasons why I am still here and competing with these young guys. I want to see how they beat me — if they can — and that drives me every day to get better and prove to myself and others that I can still play at a high level.

The Brit, who beat Holger Rune in Indian Wells last year to lift his career’s first Big Title, lost his lone match against the Serb when they met in the first round of the 2021 Wimbledon. But since then, Draper has evolved into one of the best players on the tour and is even tipped by many to challenge the duopoly of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.

Draper, who was forced to skip the remainder of the 2025 season following his US Open exit, played his first singles tournament at the Dubai Tennis Championships prior to arriving in Indian Wells. His run was ended by Arthur Rinderknech in the round of 16.

While Draper clinched the Indian Wells and lost the Qatar Open and the Madrid Open last year, Djokovic added two ATP 250 titles, the Geneva Open and the Hellenic Championship, to his trophy cabinet last year. Djokovic has yet to clinch a Big Title since winning the 2024 Paris Olympics gold medal by defeating Alcaraz.

Since winning his career’s 40th Masters 1000 title at the 2023 Paris Masters, the 38-year-old has reached two finals at this level, losing the 2024 Shanghai Masters to Sinner and the 2025 Miami Open to Jakub Mensik.

Also read: Alexander Zverev Explains What Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz Are Doing Differently Than Previous Generation