Novak Djokovic is awaiting the results of medical tests after he was struck on the head by a metal water bottle at the Italian Open.
He was hit after he left the court in Rome following his second-round win over Corentin Moutet.
Djokovic was clearly in a lot of distress as he fell to the floor, and he stayed on the ground for more than 30 seconds before being escorted out by ground staff.
The 36-year-old has now undergone electroencephalogram (EEG) tests — an assessment which determines the extent to which brain functions are affected by head trauma — in Belgrade and is waiting on results with his family, according to people close to Djokovic.
The world No 1 said on Sunday, having been cleared to play his next match, that the incident left him suffering from “half an hour, an hour of nausea, dizziness, blood, a lot of different things. I managed to sleep OK. I had headaches.”
Naturally this has led to concerns, both about the speed of his clearance to play in the tournament and about the speed with which the nature of the circumstances was greeted with relief.
At the time of the incident, the Italian Open issued a statement saying that he “underwent appropriate medication and has already left the Foro Italico to return to his hotel; his condition is not a cause for concern.”
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Djokovic, who exited the tournament two days later in a listless defeat to Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo, said after that match that he felt like a completely different tennis player, but refused to directly attribute the loss, and its nature, to any effects.
Unlike other sports, tennis does not have a unilateral, or even tennis association-specific concussion protocol — largely because it is not a sport in which it often becomes an issue.
Djokovic is scheduled to next be in action at the French Open in Paris, where the main draw begins on May 26.
(Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
