“We can’t under-estimate the emotional roller-coaster he has been on,” Justine Henin sympathizes with Novak Djokovic, justifies his poor outing at Monte Carlo
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Novak Djokovic and Justine Henin
Novak Djokovic, according to Justine Henin, is feeling the weight of all the scandals and concerns that have overtaken him in recent years. Henin believes that, despite his mental toughness, Djokovic is vulnerable to times of uncertainty and despair.
The 20-time Major champion has had a string of bad luck and controversy in recent years, starting with the much negative talked about Adria Tour during the height of the pandemic.
In the same year, the World No. 1 was disqualified from the US Open for slapping a lineswoman with a ball in an act of petulance. Within months, he was defeated in the 2020 Roland Garros final by Rafael Nadal, 6-0, 6-2, 7-5. Djokovic won three Majors in a row the following year but failed to win a medal at the Olympics. He also fell short of completing a historic Calendar Slam, losing in the final of the US Open against Daniil Medvedev.
So far, 2022 has been even worse for the Serb, since he was deported from Australia owing to his lack of vaccinations. For the same reason, he was forced to skip the Indian Wells and Miami Masters, decreasing his chances of obtaining enough match practice.
All of this was mentioned in a recent podcast by Justine Henin, who was discussing the Serb’s second-round loss at the Monte Carlo Masters. She said in her podcast, We can’t under-estimate the emotional roller-coaster he [Djokovic] has been on,” “Not just the Australian Open and not just all the effort he made to try and win his 21st Grand Slam at the 2021 US Open either. But you can also go back to the US Open in 2020 when he was disqualified. From there, he then had the tough [final] defeat [to Rafa Nadal] at Roland Garros. Then he had the abdominal injury and his somewhat miraculous win at the Australian Open in 2021.”
Regardless of the World No. 1’s enormous mental power, Henin feels that this line of events would have left a mark on his psyche. “You’ve got to imagine what all that must have been like. Even if your name is Novak Djokovic, you’re still a human being,” “He can’t have gone through all that calmly.” said Henley in her podcast.
However, the seven-time Major champion stated that she does not believe the Serb would be affected by these occurrences for the rest of his career. She adds, “I’m not saying all this is going to have an impact on the rest of his career, but he’s got to digest and recover from all of that,”. “And these are factors that have got to be taken into account when we talk about him now.” were quoted by the former world no. 1
Does Justine Henley think Novak Djokovic can get back to his former glory?
Justine Henin stated on the show that she believes Novak Djokovic will find his mojo sooner rather than later.
In the same breath, the Belgian emphasized that athletes should not be viewed as robots since dealing with adversity inevitably takes its toll. She quotes, ” But I think he’s going to recover and we’ll once again sooner or later see the Djokovic of old, so I’m not too worried at this stage,” she said confidently.
She further goes on to say, “But these players aren’t machines either, and even if he showed us that he could deal with so many things and that the more he was in difficulty, the more he could bounce back, how long can he keep doing that?” she asks.
We wonder about the same thing too. What do you all think? Will Djokovic get back to his form even under these harsh times, or will it take some time for him to get back his skills?
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Harini Mahesh
(159 Articles Published)