By Erik Gudris | Friday, June 27, 2014

 

Top seed Novak Djokovic survived a fall that appeared to impact his shoulder before advancing in three sets versus Gilles Simon.

Photo Credit: Kieran Galvin/CameraSport
 

What looked like a routine win for Novak Djokovic turned into anything but that during his third round match at Wimbledon.

The top seed suffered a nasty tumble midway through the third set against France's Gilles Simon. Before that Djokovic, who took hold of the first two sets, looked en route to a comfortable straight sets victory.

With Simon serving at 2-3, Djokovic chased after a shot on the baseline. That's when he first slipped and then fell onto the famed Centre Court grass.



Writhing in agony, Djokovic clutched his left shoulder for over a minute before returning to his chair. He then took a medical time out where he has treated by first a trainer and then a doctor who appeared to hand him anti-inflammatories.

Djokovic returned to the court and resumed play. Though Simon would double fault on the next point, he soon held for 3-all. Djokovic, though being in obvious pain minutes ago, held serve for 4-3.

With the Frenchman known for being a fierce retriever of every shot sent his way, the potential was there for the set to at least end up in a tiebreak. Djokovic avoided that by pressuring Simon when the Frenchman served down 4-5.

A well-timed smash presented Djokovic with his first match point. He didn't wait around as he soon converted it resulting in a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 win.

Speaking later to the BBC just after the match, Djokovic said, "There was no damage to the joints. I could play a few games after that. The muscle was quite sore after the impact but all in all I'm just glad to get through."

Djokovic will now have two days off before his next scheduled match on Monday. That will be against No. 14 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France who defeated Jimmy Wang 6-2, 6-2, 7-5.