After weeks of speculations regarding his condition, Novak Djokovic told Serbian media at the press conference that he will be out of ATP tour for the rest of 2017 season after the consultations with the specialists. Interestingly enough, the Serbian made this decision on the same date Roger Federer did last year. But is it the wise decision? Will he be able to return in 2018 stronger than ever? Novak Djokovic certainly thinks so. And given the fact that Roger Federer is having the dream season after six months break he took in 2016, I can't come up with a single reason why it wouldn't work for Novak as well.
Also, I can't help but notice how determined Novak Djokovic looked during this press conference and also quite relieved. This comes as no surprise because he did say how he was on painkillers for the year and a half. Now, not only will he have time to recover from his elbow injury, but he will also have the time to find his motivation again which always stemmed from the time he spends with his family. And given the fact that Novak and Jelena are expecting their second child soon, I can't think of a better time for Novak to heal his wounds and come back stronger than ever in 2018.
What did Novak say?
It was when he retired his quarter-final match at Wimbledon that Novak knew it is time for a radical decision.
And the radical decision he made, because until today Novak Djokovic was lucky enough to maintain a high level of his game, without being forced to take a break longer than a couple of weeks. But now, his elbow injury requires a different approach - a break from tennis until 2018, but the good news is that he won't have to go to surgery.
The Serbian added that he will now have all the time in the world to dedicate himself to a proper healing and that his number one priority is to make his body strong again. And when talking about the injury itself, Djokovic started the busy schedule and a vast number of matches he played during the years of his dominance on the tennis courts as the main cause of his problems.
Another thing worth mentioning is that Andre Agassi will still be Novak's coach and that he is negotiating with Mario Ancic to join him as well.
Ranking implications
No matter how confident Djokovic looked today, his six-month absence from tennis courts will have severe consequences when it comes to his ranking. He will lose 3940 points in total and will certainly finish the season outside the top 10 for the first time since 2006 which seems like a life time ago. It remains to be seen what happens to Andy Murray, but one thing is certain, the battle for the world number one will once again be between two tennis legends, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
