"Just worried about his health": Andrea Petkovic expresses concern about Novak Djokovic's fitness after Qatar Open first-round exit

Former Germany tennis player Andrea Petkovic has expressed her concern about the health of Serbia’s Novak Djokovic. The 37-year-old, who is widely 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, has struggled with fitness concerns in the recent past.

Djokovic was forced to retire from the semifinal of the Australian Open because of an injury against the reigning world number two Alexander Zverev. He suffered the injury during the quarterfinal against Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz but managed to overcome the Spaniard and cemented his spot in the last-four.

It was not the first time when Djokovic was forced to retire from the competition. Last year, during the French Open, the former world number withdrew just before the start of the quarterfinal against Norway’s Casper Ruud because of a fitness concern. Djokovic returned to the court recently, where he participated in the Qatar Open but lost in the opening round to Italy’s Matteo Berrettini in straight sets with a score of 7-6, 6-2. After the match, Djokovic admitted that he did not play his best tennis but stated that he played without any pain.

In a video that appeared on the social media platform X—previously known as Twitter—the 24-time Grand Slam winner was seen limping at the airport. Former German tennis player Petkovic recently spoke in the Inside-In Podcast, where she expressed concerns about Djokovic's health. The 37-year-old stated that she is not concerned about the current world number seven’s performance in Doha, but the most important thing is for him to stay fit.

"Novak, we don’t know when he was able to start practicing with that muscle tear he had in his thigh," she said. "So maybe a bit early, the comeback I don’t know we will see whether he says something on it or whether he just needs a bit of time in the competition side. And he’s already doing really well in training and that is sometimes also the case when you come back from injuries. Sometimes you’re already doing tremendously well in training and it just takes a while in competition. I’m not worried about Novak, I thought he played so well at the Australian Open. That match against Carlos, some people wanted to put this one on Carlos, I just thought he was outplayed by Novak. I didn’t think he played so badly and so I’m not worried about Novak at all in terms of tennis, just worried about his health and if he’s healthy he will be fine."