“They think I am faking everything!” When Novak Djokovic lashed out at Andy Roddick and the US Open crowd for accusing him of faking injuries
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Novak Djokovic and Andy Roddick
Serbian maestro Novak Djokovic is one of the greatest athletes the tennis world has ever seen. He has 21 major titles to his name and to date, he is one of the favorites to win any tournament he plays. He has revolutionized and popularized modern tennis along with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
But despite his greatness, Djokovic has always been in some other controversies and isn’t much popular amongst tennis fans. One thing that Djokovic was often accused of during the initial part of his career was that he faked injuries at times whenever he was on the back foot. It was speculated that Djokovic did this on purpose to take medical timeouts and break his opponents’ momentum.
During the 2008 US Open, Djokovic had to battle past Spaniard Tommy Robredo in a very tight five-set match in the Round of 16. He eventually defeated Robredo in five-set 4-6,6-2,6-3,5-7,6-3 to enter the quarterfinals. But he faced a lot of criticism for taking two medical timeouts during the match.
His quarterfinal opponent, Andy Roddick mocked him ahead of the match by joking that he has a lot of injuries. “Two hurt ankles, bird flu, and SARS!” Roddick commented on Djokovic’s injury. Djokovic defeated Roddick in four sets 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5) in the quarterfinal.
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‘That’s not nice to say in front of this crowd that I have 16 injuries and that I’m faking it’: Novak Djokovic on Andy Roddick
After the match, during the interview, Djokovic addressed the elephant in the room by acknowledging Roddick’s comments. He said that he knows the crowd thinks that he’s faking an injury because Roddick said he has 16 injuries.
“I know they [the crowd] are already against me because they think I am faking everything,” he said. “That’s not nice to say in front of this crowd that I have 16 injuries and that I’m faking it.”
But he also said that Roddick’s statement wasn’t intentional, and he took it the wrong way because of a misunderstanding. He then apologized for the comments he made.
“Unfortunately, Andy made a statement, and I don’t think it was intentional,” he said. “He made a joke, and it was a misunderstanding. I exaggerated, and I reacted badly at that moment. I apologize if I reacted like that. It was just impulsive, and I had a lot of emotions in the last two days.“
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Lakshya Chopra
(2607 Articles Published)