Janko Tipsarevic played his first ATP match in almost a year and a half, teaming with Novak Djokovic in the Miami doubles tournament.
The Serbs fell to Robert Linstedt and Jurgen Melzer in a champions tiebreak, 6-4, 3-6, 10-7. Following the match, Tipsarevic looked back on his injury, criticizing himself "for not taking time off to heal, but I was Top 10, chasing the ranking, afraid to drop—big mistake from my side." (Quoted from the Miami Herald)
The 31-year-old said he had hundreds of antiflammatory injections for his heel injury, but eventually required two surgical procedures to correct the problem. “Name a therapy, I tried it. Everything there is on this earth except an artificial foot, I tried it. I know there are far worse things than sports injuries, but this period was the toughest moment," said Tipsarevic.
Djokovic said he was happy to see his friend return and wanted to help him by playing doubles at this event. "I know him for such a long time. We are great friends," said Djokovic, adding that while Tipsarevic was injured, he attempted, ''as a friend and as a colleague, be close to him, to give him support, to let him know that I'm there."
That also meant including accompanying his compatriot in his first match back. "So the opportunity to play today with him was very special for me, really, as a friend, and I cared very much to win this match today," he said. "I got very tight in the super-tiebreaker, I have to say, because it was a very tough match."
Tipsarevic is scheduled to return to singles competition in Houston, with Djokovic saying he "has the quality to go back to where he was. You know, that's Top 10," though he noted that Tipsarevic had been sidelined for a long time and was not ready to play singles at this event.
"But he's eager to play. He's motivated. He right now has been practicing for a couple of weeks 100 percent, said Djokovic.
Tipsarevic has been ranked as high as No. 8 in the ATP rankings.