Novak Djokovic has elbow surgery

Has to be the last roll of the dice for the Serb. No return date mentioned

Novak announces he's had a 'small medical intervention' -  elbow arthroscopy procedure?

I am slightly surprised that both Novak and Andy skipped roughly 6 months, with no surgery, but then had surgeries as soon as the season started.

I guess the theory is they tried to get in shape without a surgery but when they tried playing for real, it became apparent that it was not working.  Still, I am surprised that now, in 21st century with all the technology at their disposal, they were not able to ascertain the need for surgeries without having to try to play tournaments.  If they had their surgeries even a couple of months earlier, they would have been far better positioned for this season.

summerblues wrote:I am slightly surprised that both Novak and Andy skipped roughly 6 months, with no surgery, but then had surgeries as soon as the season started.

I guess the theory is they tried to get in shape without a surgery but when they tried playing for real, it became apparent that it was not working.  Still, I am surprised that now, in 21st century with all the technology at their disposal, they were not able to ascertain the need for surgeries without having to try to play tournaments.  If they had their surgeries even a couple of months earlier, they would have been far better positioned for this season.

I see where you are coming from and in hindsight I wish Murray had made the decision right after Wimbledon. However, I have no doubt both Andy and Novak have had the best medical advice from the best specialists in the business and rest was prescribed and take it from there which is what they did. Also, it is well-documented what the risks are with surgery and have heard ex-pros paint a gloomy picture about having surgery and the damage it does so it is no surprise at the end of the day that they left it as long as possible before making the decision to have surgery. I'd say it is fair that both players are now drinking in the last chance saloon.

Djokovic said he has had this elbow issue for about two years.  If so this suggests this was the real reason for Djokovics drop off in form following his RG2016 success, and that his drop off in form had nothing to do with apparent motivational issues or coincidental personal issues.  His tearful loss at the 2016 Olympics to Del Potro suggested that this loss at least had nothing to do with motivation.  We know that many players will tend to hide the extent of their injuries so as not to give extra encouragement to their opponents.  Hence for me I am now discounting the motivation theory of Djokovics drop off in form post RG2016.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/42930985

ps to add to CC's comment above. Djokovic has said the precise nature of the elbow issue plus what is needed to "cure" the issue is not 100% certain / diagnosed. He has said that the medics and specialists he has consulted have not agreed on precisely what the issue is and precisely what the best course of action should be. On this surgical intervention, he has said that it is not sure that it will sort the problem out, but it is something he has to try because it might work (and hasn't yet been tried).

CC, I obviously agree. They must feel that a surgery involves fairly high amount of risk so they were trying to postpone it as much as possible in hope that they could get better without it. And I am sure that if the doctors had been able to tell them earlier that surgeries were a must they would have had them earlier.

Bertie, I am not sure I would totally discount motivational issues. Nole did fire his entire coaching team at one point; that is certainly odd and hard to explain with an elbow injury.

summerblues wrote:Bertie, I am not sure I would totally discount motivational issues.  Nole did fire his entire coaching team at one point; that is certainly odd and hard to explain with an elbow injury.

I agree. Around that time Novak openly admitted he wasn't training as much as he should and was struggling to motivate himself to train. Even Boris around that time said the same. For me there was definitely a motivational issue that followed him winning the French Open. Evidently, his elbow was in fine shape then anyway for him to win a slam.

summerblues wrote:Bertie, I am not sure I would totally discount motivational issues.  Nole did fire his entire coaching team at one point; that is certainly odd and hard to explain with an elbow injury.

Hi, we would need to look into what Nole said about the firing of his entire coaching team.  Currently I am of the belief that he was playing away, his marriage was going to fail, and he had to show that he was going to change his ways.  I think he blamed everything on the culture that had developed around him with his team.  So I think this was a coincidental issue.  I think Nole claimed at the time that he fired his coaching team because he wanted to return to winning ways - yet clearly this has proved to be wrong (surely), a lie, as he is now saying he has been carrying this elbow injury for two years.

No name Bertie wrote:Currently I am of the belief that he was playing away, his marriage was going to fail, and he had to show that he was going to change his ways.

Possibly so, but even if this is the right take, I would still say something like that may well have a significant impact on his game - so I would still file it under "motivational issues".

CaledonianCraig wrote:

summerblues wrote:Bertie, I am not sure I would totally discount motivational issues.  Nole did fire his entire coaching team at one point; that is certainly odd and hard to explain with an elbow injury.

I agree. Around that time Novak openly admitted he wasn't training as much as he should and was struggling to motivate himself to train. Even Boris around that time said the same. For me there was definitely a motivational issue that followed him winning the French Open. Evidently, his elbow was in fine shape then anyway for him to win a slam.

If Boris said there were motivational issues with regard to training then I would like to know when the elbow became a significant issue. He seemed to be carrying an injury at the Olympics 2016, so maybe the elbow became a significant issue during the grass season of 2016 or a reaction issue following RG2016.

No name Bertie wrote:

summerblues wrote:Bertie, I am not sure I would totally discount motivational issues.  Nole did fire his entire coaching team at one point; that is certainly odd and hard to explain with an elbow injury.

Hi, we would need to look into what Nole said about the firing of his entire coaching team.  Currently I am of the belief that he was playing away, his marriage was going to fail, and he had to show that he was going to change his ways.  I think he blamed everything on the culture that had developed around him with his team.  So I think this was a coincidental issue.  I think Nole claimed at the time that he fired his coaching team because he wanted to return to winning ways - yet clearly this has proved to be wrong (surely), a lie, as he is now saying he has been carrying this elbow injury for two years.

I am not sure of the credence that the injury has been there for two years (not calling you a liar Bertie). It may have perhaps been a niggle but it certainly was not affecting his play as he won the French Open at a time supposedly he had this injury - I'd say that is an impossibility. He and Boris, after he had won the French Open pinpointed a lack of motivation. I cannot see that both were in error. As I recall it Novak said that the winning of the French Open after striving so long for it left him thinking afterwards: 'Now what?' He was struggling to motivate himself for the challenges that lay ahead and admitted he had felt like there were no goals left to strive for at that time.

CaledonianCraig wrote: I am not sure of the credence that the injury has been there for two years (not calling you a liar Bertie) ... .

I am not a liar - I took it from BBC that was quoting Djokovic: " "I've been carrying this injury for the past two years, and during this time I've been seeing many doctors" " said Djokovic.  Read the link - it has been taken from there:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/42930985

No name Bertie wrote:

CaledonianCraig wrote: I am not sure of the credence that the injury has been there for two years (not calling you a liar Bertie) ... .

I am not a liar - I was quoting the BBC that was quoting Djokovic: " "I've been carrying this injury for the past two years, and during this time I've been seeing many doctors" " said Djokovic.  Read the link - it has been taken from there:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/42930985

Read my last message I did say I wasn't calling you a liar.

Sure he says he has been carrying the injury but to what degree is my point here. It may have been small twinges in the elbow then and I would definitely say not affecting his game as he won the French Open. I'd say it began becoming an issue when the media began reporting it as an issue last year.

Also to back up my theory the injury really could not have been that bad for him to play on through it. He says he has seen doctors about it so if (in those two years) he says it has been there then at least one of those doctors would have recommended a few months rest. The fact he never took that rest suggests the specialists he saw never saw it troubling him enough to order him to rest. Or the other option is (if the injury was that bad) two years ago and doctors ordered him to rest for a few months and he ignored them which I refuse to believe was the case.

"Small medical intervention". Why doesn't he just say he's had minor surgery (if that what it was) and be done with it.
   With Murray and the hip problem, it could be that he received advice that surgery was a possibility but might not do the trick. In that case, he opted for rest and has now decided to go ahead with the surgery as the rest period hadn't sufficiently helped the problem.
   Let's hope that Novak and Andy can come back reasonably OK. It would be terrific to have the big four all playing at the same time again, particularly as the younger players seem to be struggling to make a major impact. One to watch out for, though, is this Australian de Minaur, just a few days shy of 19, who could be a big star.