Novak Djokovic will not play again in 2017

Oh how the mighty have fallen!

One year ago, Novak Djokovic was seemingly invincible, as the the world number one was sitting pretty atop the ATP rankings. One year later, Djokovic has lost his number one ranking and is now set to miss out the rest of the year through an elbow injury.

This is what Djokovic said on a Facebook Live video,

“It was a decision which had to be made,” Djokovic said on Facebook Live. “Wimbledon was probably the toughest tournament of me for feeling the pain which has escalated.”

“I consulted many doctors and specialists in the last 12-15 months, especially in last couple of months when the injury grew, and they all agree I need rest and time.”

“Nothing can help instantly, you just have to allow natural rehabilitation to take course. Professionally it is not an easy decision but I’m trying to look at the positive side – I will try to use this time as best as I can, with quality time with my family.”

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This means that Djokovic will miss the Davis Cup, the US Open and the year ending World Tour finals at the O2 in London.

Serbia’s Davis Cup doctor, Zdenko Milinkovic, had this to say about Novak’s injury,

“He has a bruised bone due to excessive playing.”

“Novak is in Toronto undergoing some further tests with specialists.”

Novak will take heart from the fact that Nadal and Federer also took time off to recuperate and came back stronger than ever on their returns. Maybe this is what Djokovic needs to get back on track.