Australian Open: 'I'm going to keep going,' says Djokovic despite injury scare

Former champion Novak Djokovic has said he will "keep going" despite struggling with an injury in the ongoing Australian Open.

Djokovic, who has won the Australian Open a record nine times, was not allowed to compete last year after he was deported from the country for not being vaccinated against the covid-19.

On Thursday, Djokovic defeated France's Enzo Couacaud 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-0. Djokovic, who entered the Australian Open 2023 with a left hamstring injury that he sustained in Adelaide earlier this month, lost the second-set tie break but regrouped soon to clinch the game after three hours and four minutes to progress to the third round. Djokovic had his left leg wrapped and had moments in which his movement was visibly compromised.

"I'm glad that I managed to win this match, of course, in four sets. Credit to Enzo for playing well, very well, I think in the second set. A lot of things were happening during this match. It was obvious he and I had some injuries, and medical timeouts. My situation with my injury is not ideal. I obviously don't want to go too deep into that. I wish that some things were different from the way I feel with my leg, but it is what it is. I have to take it day by day," said Djokovic after the win on Thursday.

Djokovic, who has won the calendar opening Grand Slam with an injury before, admitted after his latest win that the injury is at the very least at the forefront of his mind. He explained that he is "not practising basically" on his days off between matches.

"I am worried. I mean, I cannot say that I'm not. I have reason to be worried. But at the same time I have to accept the circumstances and try to adjust myself to my team. My physio and medical team has been doing everything possible so that I can be able to play every match. There's not much more to talk about. There are two choices: leave it or keep going. So I'm going to keep going. I'm going to try to play and compete with, of course, a great player [Grigor] Dimitrov in a couple days' time," the Serbian player added.

The fourth seed will next face 2017 Nitto ATP Finals champion Grigor Dimitrov, who trails 1-9 in head-to-head against Djokovic. The former World No. 1, Djokovic, has said that such matches are not easy under normal circumstances, forget with an injury.

"I know matches are only going to get tougher for me from here. Two years ago I had kind of similar circumstances here in Australia with a different muscle where I had a tear and I had to deal with that. Somehow I pushed it through and won the tournament. But it's different now, obviously. I don't know how my body's going to react. I hope for the best," added Djokovic.

In the 2023 season, Djokovic has won seven matches and has not lost any. The 21-time Grand Slam winner captured his career's 92nd ATP title in Adelaide.