Pablo Carreno Busta questioned the seriousness of Novak Djokovic’s injury in his 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 defeat at the hands of Serbian in the French Open quarter-finals.
The Spaniard started well winning the first set as Djokovic took treatment on his upper left arm and neck.
However, Busta who missed out on a chance to break Djokovic in the second set before losing it the World No 1, wondered if the Serb’s problems early on were more mental than physical.
“That’s normal, no? He makes always [such gestures],” Carreno Busta said after the game.
“The last years he’s always doing this when he has problems on court. I don’t know, maybe it’s the pressure or something that he needs to do it. But he continues playing normal, no? I don’t know if he’s in pain really, or he has mental [issues],” he added.
Djokovic upped the ante after the second set cruising to victory in the end.
“I definitely didn’t feel great coming onto the court today, a few things happened in the warm-up,” said Djokovic.
“I had some neck issues and some shoulder issues. I don’t really want to get too much into it.
“I’m feeling okay, I’m still in the tournament so I don’t want to reveal too much. As the match went on, I felt better, didn’t feel as much pain.”
The Serb now sits two wins away from becoming the first man in half a century – and only the third in history – to win all four Slams twice and faces Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semi-finals.