Novak Djokovic was one of the very few players who featured in second round action on a rain-hit Wednesday in New York but his win was marred with fitness woes and a controversy.
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Djokovic completed a 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), 6-1 victory over Juan Ignacio Londero in his second round match but not before he had received treatment for an injured shoulder during the match.
This was after he had admitted before going into this encounter he was struggling with a fitness issue. He had said:
“I have a little problem. I won’t talk in which part of my body. It’s not the intimate part; it’s something else, standard. I have a little pain for ten days, it disturbs my rhythm from the baseline a little, and with the service, but it is much better than three or four days ago.”
The world number one was in distress even during practice a day before his second round match and took a medical timeout in the first set while being 4-3 up at one stage.
He went on to win the first set before needing more medical attention for his shoulder, and then fell 3-0 behind in the second set. Djokovic’s Argentine opponent broke him twice to take the lead before the Serb came back to earn those two breaks back and force the set into a tie-breaker.
It was business as usual after that as Djokovic completed a straight-set win and will now take on the winner of the match between Dusan Lajovic and Denis Kudla.
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And while Djokovic said he would look to rest his shoulder for the next two days and do no practice in the lead-up to his third round match, former players John and Patrick McEnroe did not believe the world number one was really injured.
Commentating for ESPN, the McEnroe brothers joked he was hitting them well, and John then went on to add, Djokovic might have had a boat accident “while on holidays in Croatia”.
This is calling Djokovic’s injury as acting… by McEnroe brothers pic.twitter.com/ZB7bOgV6mt
— Archana (@ArchisticMind) August 29, 2019
In some of the other top matches on the day, both Roger Federer and Serena Williams dropped a set apiece before advancing to the third round. Federer fell behind 4-0 in the first set against Damir Dzumhur before coming back to win the match 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 while Williams was a 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 winner over Caty McNally in her second round encounter.
Federer will now take on the winner of the match between British player Daniel Evans and Frenchman Lucas Pouille, while Williams could face either Karolina Muchova or Hsieh Su-Wei in their respective third round matches.
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