Tiley: Djokovic won Australian Open despite “3cm tear in his hamstring”

The Serb managed the injury brilliantly as he won his record-equalling 22nd Grand Slam title in Melbourne

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic receives medical attention after sustaining an injury during his third round match against Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov at the 2023 Australian Open Image Credit: AI/Reuters/Panoramic

Simon Cambers

February 1, 2023

Novak Djokovic won his 10th Australian Open title last weekend with a “3cm tear in his hamstring”, tournament director Craig Tiley said on Wednesday.

Djokovic managed a hamstring problem throughout the fortnight at Melbourne Park, not practising on his days off, while getting every bit of treatment he could to enable him to continue.

BREAKING | Craig Tiley reveals Novak Djokovic played in this year’s @AustralianOpen with a 3cm tear in his hamstring.
— Sportsday (@SENSportsday) February 1, 2023

At one stage, his team thought he might not be able to play but he found a way and went on to beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final to pull level with Rafael Nadal on a men’s record 22 Grand Slam titles.

“A lot of the challenges around Novak is that he gets a bad rap,” Tiley told SEN Sportsday, a Melbourne radio programme.

“But at the end of the day, I don’t think anyone can question his athleticism. “This guy I did see, he had a three-centimetre tear in his hammy.”

Tiley said he had seen the medical scans. “Absolutely. The doctors are going to tell you the truth.. There was a lot of speculation about whether it was true or not, it’s hard to believe that they can do what they do with those kinds of injuries.

“He’s remarkable, to deal with it extremely professionally.”

After his win on Sunday, Djokovic said he would probably post more information about his injury but Tiley got in there first.