Novak Djokovic addresses new injury scare after gripping leg in pain at Shanghai Masters | Tennis | sport

Novak Djokovic has dealt with an injury scare he suffered during his three-set comeback win at the Shanghai Masters on Friday.

The world number 4 stormed back to beat teenager Jakub Mensik 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-3. But as the game progressed, he began to feel some discomfort and began to grab his left leg and stretch it out.

Djokovic now hopes he can face Taylor Fritz in the semi-finals on Saturday.

Djokovic has already had problems with his right leg this season. He injured his knee at the French Open and shortly afterwards underwent meniscus surgery. Since his return, the 37-year-old has been wearing a knee brace during competitions.

But it was his left leg that posed a problem as he defeated Mensik in the quarterfinals. When the score was 3-2 in the final set, Djokovic had to turn away.

He bent over in pain before trying to stretch the muscle and also leaned forward to grab it. In the next game, when Mensik served, Djokovic barely returned and saved his energy for the end of the set.

The fourth-seeded man finally managed to get his knee problems under control after the game, although he didn't seem to have a concrete answer to the problem.

“Yeah, I mean, it's a weird feeling, to be honest, those few points in that game, but after that everything was fine,” he said of the moment he had to stop and stretch.

“So hopefully when it cools down I won't have any problems with that because I already have problems with my right knee so it wouldn't be great. “Yeah, let’s see what tomorrow brings.”

It's no surprise that Djokovic felt this in the final set as he had to work hard to beat the world number 65. After serving in the first set, the Serb was beaten back and dragged into a tiebreak.

He quickly took a 3-0 lead before making some serious mistakes and Djokovic won just one more point before Mensik took the first set 7-6 (4). But he came back and reached his sixth semi-final of the season.

The four-time former champion then said: “We were neck and neck until the last moment, until the last game. I was lucky enough to find some really great serves in the last game, a few aces, that helps. “I didn't serve so well at the end of the first set, serving at 5-4 for the set.

“I managed to turn things around. I played a pretty bad tiebreaker, you know. I just stayed composed and started very well in the second set. I felt like we both had a bit of a physical crisis at the start of the second set. “I think we pushed each other a lot. Lots of long rallies, almost two and a half hours.