"it’s always easier": Novak Djokovic responds John McEnroe comments about faking injury in Australian Open quarterfinal

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic has responded to criticism from former world number one John McEnroe about him faking the injury. The 37-year-old is regarded as the greatest player in the history of men’s tennis in the singles category, having won as many as 24 Grand Slam titles.

Djokovic’s journey in the ongoing Australian Open came to an end on Friday as he was forced to retire from the semifinal against the reigning world number two, Germany’s Alexander Zverev. The injury was the continuation of what the former world number one suffered during the quarterfinal against Spain’s Carlos Alcara,z where he came out on top despite losing the first set.

The legendary tennis star spoke to the media after the match, and he responded to comments from the former world number one who accused him of faking an injury during the quarterfinal. “To be honest, I haven’t seen these comments, so I can’t say more,” he said.“What I can say is that it’s always easier to judge and criticise than to understand. It’s a lesson I’ve learned in life.”

Djokovic further went on to talk about how the intensity of his injury and suggested that the kind of pain he felt today was far greater than compared to what he felt two years back after suffering a similar injury.

“Yeah, I mean, look, it’s a muscle tear,” said Djokovic. “Two years ago, you know, I have managed it better. On the court it didn’t bother me as much. This time that wasn’t the case. So in these kind of instances I guess have you to try to do as much as you possibly can in the shortest amount of time, and that was the case. Yeah, I had an extra day, so two days no match. So I thought it’s going to be good enough maybe. But yeah, that wasn’t the case, unfortunately.”