Is it medically possible to win the Australian Open over two weeks playing every other day with a 3cm tear in your hamstring?
“I’m going to say no.”
That is the opinion of trusted specialist sport and exercise physician Dr Peter Larkins.
Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley made international headlines on SEN’s Sportsday earlier in the week, suggesting he saw scans proving Djokovic’s assertation that he had a tear in his hamstring across the tournament.
“This guy I did see, he had a three-centimetre tear in his hammy,” he said on Wednesday.
“Absolutely (I saw the scans), the doctors are going to tell you the truth.
“There was a lot of speculation about whether it was true or not, it’s hard to believe what they can do what they do with those kinds of injuries.”
Larkins believes Tiley may have been confused by what he was shown on the MRI.
“It’s rare air we’re talking about here. I’d like to see the scan. I heard Craig’s comments and he said the doctors were being honest, well let’s see the scan,” Larkins continued on SEN’s Sportsday.
“I’m wondering if Craig is confusing signal of 3cm distance in an MRI hamstring. Signal can mean some inflammation or some swelling, it doesn’t mean a tear.
“It’s very hard to imagine, if you take a piece of steak and cut a 3cm hole in it, steak is muscle, then it’s very hard to do the level of performance.
“I never doubted that Novak was carrying a hamstring injury, it was well managed, I know his team, they’re not allowed to talk in detail publicly, but there’s going to be speculation unless this is resolved.
“I think Craig is confusing what might have been an MRI change showing some damage in the area, rather than a 3cm split or gap, but it may depend on which area it was in.
“It looked like it was in the biceps, which is the main hamstring, but it is setting a precedent that is hard to be resolved unless there is something miraculous about Novak.”
Impossible
— Matthew Richardson (@mattricho0) February 1, 2023
