What 'Worrying' scenes at Australian Open led to Djokovic's rebuke: Here's what you should know

The 24-time Grand Slam champion, Novak Djokovic, has issued a strong statement after the buzz surrounding his injury rumors at the Australian Open.

Djokovic, 38, clapped back at the reporting of a neck injury he received treatment for after his first match at the Australian Open on Sunday, January 18, 2026.

The Serbian superstar has slammed the suggestion that the problem has caused any disruptions to his preparation, not as significant as portrayed.

For context, the 24-time Grand Slam winner called off practice early just 12 minutes into the session because of a neck problem on Wednesday, January 14, 2026.

But what has now been revealed by Djokovic himself presents a completely new angle to the story.

Let’s find out why he had to rebuke the “worrying” scenes at the Australian Open.

After spending time smashing with Daniil Medvedev on Rod Laver Arena, the Serb later took to Court 10 for a second batch of training sessions at 5 pm, as reported by the Express UK.

The publication claimed that Djokovic had to cut short his session due to neck pain after he went to his physiotherapist, Miljan Amanovic, for the treatment, and the session could not be resumed, which has led to the speculation of his impending injury.

Now the world No. 4 has now clapped back, claiming people are in search of drama, insisting he trained following the incident, just not on court.

“I come here and see on the internet that the problem is that Miljan came to massage my neck or that we trained for 12 minutes,” Djokovic told a Serbian media outlet, Blic.

“No one mentions that we trained for two hours before that and then went to the gym again afterwards and that it only took those 15 minutes, that it didn’t take a whole hour,” the Serb continued, expressing regret over the misleading reporting.

“People made a story about it, and then a picture of him getting a massage, and chaos ensues. Everything gets started, instead of making a healthy, constructive story, there are a lot of things they can write nicely about me, but they choose that.”

Djokovic concluded while leaving a question for the media, that “Why they choose that and who they are and why, we can talk about that until tomorrow… There must be some drama.”

The Serbian tennis GOAT is seeded fourth for the Australian Open and has triumphed in the tournament 10 times, with his most recent victory coming in 2023.