28 August 2023 , 17:36
838
0
Novak Djokovic's US Open first-round opponent, Alexandre Muller, plays through a chronic health condition that requires bi-weekly injections to keep under control, having ignored a doctor's advice to quit the sport.
Muller, 26, faces Djokovic for the first time since turning pro on Monday at Flushing Meadows. Last time out at Wimbledon, the French player enjoyed a joint-career-best Grand Slam finish after making it through to the second round before being beaten by eventual winner Carlos Alcaraz.
Heading into the main draw, the World No. 76 has opened up about living with Crohn's disease and still performing as an athlete. Crohn's is an inflammatory bowel disease that causes inflammation in parts of the digestive system.
It is currently a lifelong condition with no known cure. Instead, as Muller explains, it is managed through various treatments, including intravenous infusions and taking steroid tablets.
"I need to do an injection to myself every two weeks, all my life," he said in an interview on the ATP website. "So it's not that easy, but I'm trying to manage it.
Novak Djokovic won Australian Open despite playing with major hamstring tear
"Sometimes I’m feeling quite bad. It was not easy because the doctor told me if I wanted to be in good shape, I needed to stop tennis and sports in general."
Muller continued: "Not playing the sport, but when you're a professional tennis player, you practice every day, so it's very hard. I needed to stop it. I stopped training for maybe two months; I took a lot of cortisone [a steroid]. It's the process with this disease, so now I'm trying to manage it."
Muller made the second round at Wimbledon before being beaten by AlcarazThe Frenchman was diagnosed with the disease early in his teenage years. “I was just a little bit sick," Muller recalls. "I went to the doctor, and he gave me some medicine. I was quite young — 14 years old is young — so I kept it to myself for one year.
"But it was like an inflammation. So after one year, the inflammation was so big - and I couldn't move anymore. I lost maybe 10 kilos.
“When I came back to my parents for the weekend, during the night, they heard the toilet like 50 times. So they said, ‘OK, there is something wrong.’ So I went to the hospital, I did all the exams and everything, and they said: 'OK, it's Crohn's disease.”
However, he did not let the disease define him nor derail his fledgling tennis career despite the physical toll it was taking on his body and amid doubts from doctors. Over a decade on, the prospect of playing Djokovic is something the Frenchman is keen to cherish.
"I think the most important thing is that I need to enjoy the moment, because I don't know what's going to be my career," he acknowledged.
"But I'm going to play on centre court, night session, Arthur Ashe Stadium. I need to enjoy it and play my tennis. We'll see what happens."