Serbian World Number three Novak Djokovic stressed that he’s not a “quitter” and labeling him as such is uncalled for.
The Serbian gained media attention earlier this year when he retired at his Australian Open quarter-final match against Andy Roddick, stating unbearable heat caused his exhaustion. The move was criticized since he already had past incidents wherein he retired in matches during Grand Slam events – in French Open 2006 quarterfinals and Wimbledon 2007 semifinals, both matches against current world number one Rafael Nadal.
“It certainly isn’t pleasant when something isn’t right and people are talking about something which isn’t true, but I’m tired of proving whatever I need to prove. I’m just playing tennis for myself and I always have put my health as a priority to everything. Tennis is probably my life at this moment, but it’s not the only thing in my life,” Djokovic was quoted as saying prior to the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
“It’s just that this reputation which has been going around, I don’t think it’s right. But everybody has a right for their own opinion,” he added.
Djokovic was the defending champion of the Indian Wells event. However, he crashed out of the quarterfinals this year, losing ranking points and closing the gap between him and world number four Andy Murray.
