‘I felt fantastic’ – Djokovic’s words on road to recovery

With a thorough beating of Alex de Minaur 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, it was no surprise to hear Novak Djokovic declare that his ongoing hamstring trouble was giving him rather less pain on Monday than it had earlier in the tournament.

“We take it day by day,” he said in his post-match press conference. “We do a lot of things actually. It’s been honestly exhausting to be involved in a lot of different treatments and machines and stuff that we do.

“At the same time it was necessary. It is necessary in order to get myself in a condition to play. So I’m really glad that my body has responded really well.

“Tonight I didn’t feel any pain. I moved as well as I have the whole tournament. It means we are progressing in the right direction.”

Djokovic: I don’t want to celebrate too early

And asked if those treatments had increased since his third-round match versus Grigor Dimitrov, after which he had admitted that he was feeling the injury, he replied: “It’s just the response of the body. Some days you feel good; some days maybe not as. So, as I said on the court, I do not want to celebrate too early because I don’t know how the body’s going to respond tomorrow and for the next match.

“What I felt tonight is fantastic.”

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