Novak Djokovic is one of the greatest players of this generation. He, alongside Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, forms dominated the men’s circuit for the past two decades. However, his ways and beliefs are quite different from the other two. Especially when it comes to treating matters of his body.

In light of his recent vaccination mayhem, let’s recall the time when the Serb missed almost half a season because he didn’t want to interfere with his body’s natural healing process.

Novak Djokovic and Agassi’s disagreement

The 21-time Grand Slam champion while training under veteran Andre Agassi suffered a gruesome elbow injury that demanded surgery. However, paying no heed to his team’s advice, including Agassi’s take, Djokovic decided to pull out his name from the rest of the season to let his body treat the injury on its own accord. “I only knew him with a hurt elbow, so it was always plasters and big problems.” Agassi, after parting ways with Djokovic, admitted.

“I think there was a real hope his elbow could heal naturally, holistically. I personally wasn’t a fan of that choice. You can’t force someone when it comes to their own body,” the eight-time Grand Slam champion added.

Though Agassi also admitted, “You have to understand their hesitations, but health is a function of taking care of your body, making the hard decisions, giving yourself the time and then moving forward methodically. Rest wasn’t going to do it in my estimation.”

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The former World No.1 came back to the circuit in the 2018 Australian Open. However, he couldn’t get past South Korea’s Chung Hyeon in the round of 16 and eventually had to undergo surgery. The surgery took place in February and he rejoined the circuit at Indian Wells in March.

Djokovic’s start-stop 2022 season

The 35-year-old, after a rough start, secured his 21st major title in the grass-courts of London. After missing almost the entire hard court season, he made a comeback in the clay courts of Paris but failed to defend his title. Thereafter, with no participation in the warm up tournaments, he entered the Wimbledon Championships.

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Djokovic outclassed the Australian professional Nick Kyrgios to clinch his fourth consecutive Wimbledon trophy. Following that, he enrolled for the Laver Cup‘s fifth edition to be a part of Roger Federer’s last event. After giving a proper farewell to the Swiss Maestro, he jumped into the hard courts of Tel Aviv and outclassed Marin Cilic in the finals and now is gearing up to do the same to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Astana Open.