It hasn’t been smooth going for Novak Djokovic at the ongoing French Open. Although he has yet to lose a set in the tournament, Djokovic has had to grind hard for his victories. Additionally, he also had injury concerns during his first-round and second-round victories in the tournament. At 38, the Serb is looking to make a deep run at Roland Garros, though he is now battling foot blisters. But a time when it looked as if Djokovic was looking comfortable again, a fresh setback came to haunt him today.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion was playing Cameron Norrie in the fourth round match at the French Open. Although he began the match on the front foot and won the opening set 6-2, Djokovic had an injury scare to deal with. At 5-2 up in the first set, Djokovic asked for a medical timeout and got his right foot taped again. However, this wasn’t the same foot that Djokovic had issues with the previous time, making it a fresh scare in his bid to win the 25th Grand Slam title.

During his second-round match against Moutet as well, Djokovic was forced to take injury timeouts in the match due to blisters on his foot. However, on that occasion, Djokovic had trouble in his left foot. Although it visibly looked like Djokovic had troubles with the injury, he kept going on and battled the French crowd and injury concerns to defeat Moutet in straight sets 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (1).

As in that match, Djokovic took his time to recover from the injury while playing Norrie. He dominated the match right from the word go and defeated the British star in straight sets 6-2, 6-3, 6-2, keeping his dream of winning the 25th major title alive. Meanwhile, Djokovic also had to receive injections earlier on while playing against Moutet. In an interview, he opened up about his physical state.

Novak Djokovic plays down his injury

Although Djokovic may not be 100% fit, he is showing some top form in his bid for a record 25th Grand Slam crown. Nonetheless, his persistent foot injury has caused him much trouble in the ongoing French Open. However, he brushed aside his injury concerns to make it to the quarterfinal.

During an interview, he made a candid confession about his injury, saying, “I mean, I’m pretty fit at the moment. I don’t feel like I have any major issues. Although it took me, like, almost an hour to deal with the blister and the bleeding that I had. So they had to use the injections and draw the blood out and then inject something to dry out the blister. So that was, you know, not really a pleasant process. But it is something that, you know, anyone who has blisters that are bleeding has to do it.”

Djokovic will next face Alexander Zverev in the last eight clash tomorrow. The German star was last season’s runner-up at Roland Garros, and it would be an interesting battle to watch for the tennis fans. Can Djokovic lift the trophy in Paris this time around? Let us know your views in the comments below.