July 26 last year: Roger Federer announces he is shutting down his season to rest a knee injury and would return in January.
July 26 this year: Novak Djokovic announces he is shutting down his season to rest an elbow injury and is to return in January next year.
Same day of the year, similar injury-connected storyline, but identical outcome?
Photo: EPA
Djokovic, struggling for 18 months with a right-elbow injury and without adding to his 12 majors since completing the career Grand Slam at the French Open last year, on Wednesday announced that he would not play again this year.
That rules him out of the US Open — where he has twice been champion and made six of the past seven finals — as well as Serbia’s Davis Cup semi-final against France.
His absence from New York will be the first time he has missed a Slam since 2004, ending a run of 51 successive majors. When Federer skipped the French Open last year, it ended his majors streak at 65.
The break would see Djokovic’s world ranking slip to about No. 15 — his first trip outside the top 10 since March 2007.
Federer was No. 17 in the world when he won the Australian Open this year and is now at No. 3.
So there is plenty of encouragement there for Djokovic.
“My body has its limits, and I have to respect that and be grateful for all that I have achieved so far,” said Djokovic, adding that his injury troubles are a brutal legacy of too much court time.
Djokovic has slugged through 12 tournaments, including two trips to the Davis Cup. He has 32 wins so far this season and eight losses.
JIANGXI OPEN
Staff writer
Taiwan’s Chang Kai-chen crashed out of the Jiangxi Open in China yesterday, missing an opportunity to face compatriot Hsieh Su-wei in the quarter-finals after she fell to a 6-0, 6-2 loss to wild-card Wang Yafan of China.
Chang was back on court after a three-set victory on Wednesday night over China’s Zhang Shuai and was summarily dismissed in 1 hour, 4 minutes.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but