Match Response
Djokovic on forearm harm: ‘Hopefully it’s going to get higher day-after-day’
38-year-old Serbian opens up about harm and previews Draper conflict
March 09, 2026
Clive Brunskill/Getty Pictures
Novak Djokovic is making his seventeenth look on the BNP Paribas Open.
By Jerome Coombe
Novak Djokovic admitted that he’s managing an “odd” proper forearm drawback after grinding his manner into the fourth spherical on the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells for the primary time since 2017.
The five-time champion has wanted three units in each of his opening matches on the ATP Masters 1000 occasion and has been carrying a compression sleeve on his proper arm whereas navigating the early rounds. Regardless of the bodily concern, the 38-year-old Serbian has continued to seek out options on courtroom, most lately battling previous Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 on Monday.
“I’ve been struggling the final couple of weeks with that forearm and attempting to undergo it,” Djokovic instructed Tennis Channel after his third-round win. “It’s a bit odd: The extra I serve, the higher I really feel, however then it comes on and off if I get chilly.
“If I don’t serve for 5 – 6 minutes then I really feel like the primary couple of serves of that sport are a bit painful. I’m working via it. It’s not one thing I haven’t confronted earlier than. It’s the ins and outs of being a tennis participant at this degree, however general the physique is feeling okay. Hopefully it’s going to get higher day-after-day.”
Subsequent up for Djokovic is defending champion Jack Draper within the fourth spherical, a gathering that guarantees to check the veteran’s resilience additional. Djokovic received their solely earlier Lexus ATP Head2Head match at Wimbledon in 2021, although Draper has developed quickly within the years since.
“I’m attempting to handle my physique and my psychological state each day in order that I may be peaking as a lot as I probably can on a given day,” stated Djokovic, the No. 3 participant within the PIF ATP Rankings. “Then, after all, there’s a problem and impediment throughout the web. It’s not going to get simpler from right here… Jack Draper is subsequent, who’s the defending champ and enjoying at a very excessive degree once more, however I like the problem.
“That is likely one of the greatest the reason why I’m nonetheless right here and competing with these younger guys. I need to see how they beat me — if they’ll — and that drives me day-after-day to get higher and show to myself and others that I can nonetheless play at a excessive degree.”
In Indian Wells, Djokovic is competing in simply his second tour-level occasion of 2026 after he opened the yr by reaching the ultimate of the Australian Open, the place he fell to world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz. Draper, in the meantime, has additionally been constructing momentum after an harm, which stored him out for 5 months.
“Novak is the final word problem,” stated Draper, who’s competing in his third tour-level occasion of the season. “For me, he’s the best participant of all time. I’ve final respect for him, what he’s achieved for the sport and what he’s nonetheless doing. I’m actually trying ahead to that match. It’s what I put all of the work in for.”
