PremiumParis Olympics 2024: Novak Djokovic to take on Lorenzo Musetti amid knee injury fears
Paris Olympics 2024: Novak Djokovic had injured his right knee only 2 months ago and has since played at Wimbledon and made it to the semis of the Olympic Games
Last Updated: 08.22 PM, Aug 02, 2024
In the two months since Novak Djokovic sustained a tear in his medial meniscus in his right knee during his French Open campaign, he’s not only made a stunning recovery, but also reached the Wimbledon final, and is now gearing up for a semi-final match at the Olympics. When he’d returned to Wimbledon only 3 weeks after surgery on his knee, Djokovic had said that he and his team had pushed himself only for the sake of the prestigious Grand Slam event.
As important as Wimbledon was for Djokovic, so is representing his country at the Olympics, where he’s only managed a bronze medal earlier at the 2008 Beijing Games. A gold medal is on the 37-year-old Serbian’s radar, but while he has made it to the semi-final, this dream may just remain unfulfilled. And this is because he may have injured the right knee, which has been in a grey brace since Wimbledon, yet again.
During his quarter-final match against Stefanos Tsitsipas, Djokovic was in visible discomfort, and got his trainer to check out his knee and the pain radiating down the calf twice, In fact, after winning the first set, it seemed that Tsitsipas was turning things around, what with Djokovic literally hobbling around. The Serb prevailed, though, but expressed fears about his knee after the match. He has, however, said that he will look at pushing himself and his knee, in his gold medal quest.
Djokovic will meet Lorenzo Musetti in the semi-final on August 2, with a 6: 1 head-to-head track record in his favour. This year, Djokovic has defeated Musetti thrice already, including at the French Open and Wimbledon, but tonight’s Olympic match may just have different outcome. Musetti is in great form, while Djokovic’s knee is an issue. The match can be streamed live on JioCinema from 10.30 pm onward.
The winner of this match will meet Spain's Carlos Alcaraz in the final. Alcaraz beat Felix Auger Aliassime 6-1 6-1 to advance to the Olympic tennis final.