At the end of Novak Djokovic’s press conference after the final of the Masters in Paris, a rather unusual situation occurred that shocked everyone in the hall.
“Novak, what I am going to ask you is very important and believe me, it is not a joke!”, began his address tennis journalist from Belgium. “My wife wrote to me a little while ago and asked me to ask you – how did you cope with the stomach virus this week? She’s going through a tough time right now, so she’d be happy to take your advice…”
The hall burst into laughter, but Novak remained serious:
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“You know, I’m not a doctor and I can’t give medical advice. Everyone’s body reacts differently, but I find fluid intake to be key for me. I can’t speak for your wife or anyone is another as to what diet will work.I personally couldn’t eat much, I only ate once a day and then only drank liquids because anything I put in my mouth soon came out.
I was dizzy and felt weak. With us athletes, it is clear – either you will overcome the circumstances, the pain and the virus, or they will defeat you. In other words – there is no “half way” – either you give up and withdraw from the tournament, or you manage to extract energy from the adrenaline, from the audience, from the emotions you feel on the court. That gave me extra motivation to last this week.
Stomach problems bother me like everyone else, seems shorter than your wife’s case, but I went through hell for 3-4 days and only felt relatively normal today.” answered Novak an hour after defeating Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets.
