Indian Wells, CA– As I sat in the press box watching Novak Djokovic succumb to qualifier Taro Daniel on Sunday, I took note of a particular point in the 3rd set when Djokovic seemed to not run for a ball.<\/p>\n
It was at the end of a long rally on break point, and Daniel’s winner gave the World #109 a 3-1 lead in the set.<\/p>\n
I screen-shotted the score with my phone as a reminder to myself to go back and watch it again on video.<\/p>\n
After the loss, I looked at Djokovic in his press conference as he told the world he was simply happy to be back on court after elbow surgery. I studied his face for signs of loss of commitment to tennis, but the 12-time Grand Slam champion gave away nothing.<\/p>\n
There was no mention of any other injury.<\/p>\n
Something wasn’t right about the whole situation– “very weird,” as Djokovic himself called it.\u00a0 I posted this article<\/a> and pointed out his seeming lack of hustle in the 3rd set.\u00a0Commentating for Tennis Channel, Jim Courier saw the same thing<\/a>, saying rather pointedly that Djokovic’s problem didn’t seem to be the elbow, but rather a lack of effort.<\/p>\n The match continued to be in my head, a day after I wrote the article.<\/p>\n I wondered about the elbow. On Monday, I went to the videotape of the match on Tennis TV<\/a>. Djokovic’s serve speeds were in range of where they’ve always been.\u00a0And I remembered Robbie Koenig mentioning during the Australian Open that Novak’s velocity was on track.\u00a0The elbow didn’t seem to be hindering that, at least.<\/p>\n