Australian Open/Jokovic Has 3cm Laceration Australian Open Director: Title Is Hard To Imagine

Novak Djokovic, who won the Australian Open singles title for a record 10th time and returned to the top of the world rankings, played through the tournament with a 3cm laceration in his hamstring, Australian Open director Craig Tiley confirmed on Tuesday. It's hard to imagine a player playing like that with an injury like that.

Jokovic beat Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece in the Australian Open men's singles final, completing a record 10 Australian Open career titles. Although Jokovic suffered many injuries during this tour, he also wrote down a good performance of only one set, which made people think that there was a possibility of "fake injury".

But Australian Open director Tiely confirmed today that Jokovic did play through the seven-match, 22-set tournament with a 3cm tear in his hamstring. "He has a bad reputation, but at the end of the day I don't think anyone would doubt his athletic ability. I did see him with a 3cm tear in his leg."

Tillett stressed that while many people thought Jokovic was faking his injury, the medical team also told the truth. "The doctors will tell you the truth, and I think a lot of people will guess whether it's true or not, but it's hard to believe that someone can play like that with this type of injury.

Jokovic suffered the injury in Adelaide before the Australian Open, forcing him to play with a heavy bandage on his left thigh, and he revealed he had taken a lot of painkillers and treatment to cope with the tournament.

Goran Ivanisevic, Jokovic's coach, said after his victory: "I wouldn't say 100 percent, but 97 percent of the players, after seeing the results of the MRI on Saturday, would have gone straight to the referee's office and pulled out of the match, but he didn't. His brain works differently."