London: World number one Novak Djokovic has claimed his ability to recover within very less time of competing in marathon tennis matches is down to his good and natural routine.
The Australian Open champion also dismissed whispers he`s a cheat as he returned to action just 42 hours after five-hour marathon to book a place in the semi-finals of year’s first Grand Slam title.
Djokovic insisted he is no drug cheat after another super-human display at the Australian Open after he took over five hours to overcome Stanislas Wawrinka on Sunday and under 42 hours later, the world No 1 was back in the Rod Laver Arena to beat Tomas Berdych and reach his 11th consecutive Grand Slam semi-final, the paper added.
The 25-year-old admitted his own unbelievable powers of recovery would now come into question as he seeks a hat trick of titles here in Melbourne.
The Serb said people can keep discussing about his power of recovery, adding the people who don’t know tennis, who have never been in those kinds of situations would not truly understand what the player has to go through, not just when you prepare for a Grand Slam, but also during a Grand Slam.
Djokovic added after five hours of a match, a player needs to really put a lot of time into recovery, different kind of recoveries.
Djokovic added he understands that many people have many different views and opinions, and he respects that.
However, the top-seed added that he is doing everything that is legal, that is correct, that is natural that he can, possibly can in his power, and it’s working well for him.
Djokovic took hot and ice baths to recover after waking up at 2.30pm on Monday and a walk in the park and condition against the No 5 seed was in stark contrast to Gilles Simon, who could hardly walk against Andy Murray after playing a five-setter in the previous round.
ANI
First Published: Wednesday, January 23, 2013, 13:22