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NEED TO KNOW
- Novak Djokovic revealed that he’s been dealing with an ongoing “health issue” after losing the Cincinnati Open
- The tennis star was seen falling to the ground and appeared to vomit into his towel during the match against Thiago Agustín Tirante on Saturday, Aug. 15
- “First and foremost, I congratulate my opponent today,” said Djokovic after his defeat
Novak Djokovic is opening up about a health issue that he’s been “dealing with for many years.”
During his second-round defeat at the Cincinnati Open — which he lost 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 to Argentina’s Thiago Agustín Tirante — the tennis star, 39, suddenly fell to his hands and knees, calling for a medical timeout in the middle of their second set.
Videos shared on social media show Djokovic falling to his knees and appearing to vomit into a towel. Having then gone to sit on a bench, he took his shirt off and put an ice pack to his head as a physio and a doctor tended to him.
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“First and foremost, I congratulate my opponent today,” Djokovic told reporters after the match, perForbesand the ATP Tour. “Honestly, it hasn’t been a pleasant match for me. That’s how I’ve felt. It hasn’t been the first time, and it won’t be the last. That’s just how it is.”
During the Cincinnati Open on Saturday, Aug. 15, the athletes were playing amid extreme heat and humidity in Ohio. However, Djokovic said that the weather “conditions aren’t the problem.”
“It’s because of a health issue I have,” he told reporters. “I’ve been dealing with it for many years now. It causes me a lot of problems, especially when there’s a lot of humidity and heat.”
“I did anticipate it [would be humid], but there are all these things, like nerves and everything involved that make it worse, and that’s what happened,” Djokovic continued.
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When asked if he might play Cincinnati again next year, Djokovic admitted that “it seems more likely that I won’t be back next year.”
“But let’s see what the future holds,” he added. “I hope I do.”
For his part, Tirante, 25, described his victory against Djokovic as “the best win of my career.”
“I think I really did a good job inside the court,” he told reporters, per Forbes. “I managed very well the nerves of playing against a legend like Novak.”
“Thinking about my family and my friends that are in Argentina watching me, they are really happy to watch me on TV,” he added. “They are in Argentina, but they are in my head as well.”
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