World number one Novak Djokovic refused to get into a discussion over the shoulder injury which has plagued him throughout the tournament.
Defending US Open champion Djokovic was almost forced to withdraw from the competition earlier on Friday due to an issue with his shoulder.
The 32-year-old withdrew from two practice sessions at Flushing Meadows, opting for recovery rather than further practice.
Djokovic did take to the court at the Arthur Ashe stadium, beating Denis Kudla in straight sets to breeze into the fourth round.
The Serbian star looked sublime and free of any problems during the late night match, and afterwards refused to discuss the injury at any length.
“As I said, I would appreciate if you respect me not talking about it in details,” he said in his press conference.
“I mean, I understand you guys want to know.
“I made a decision not to get into details, not to speak about it. Please understand me.
“I’m very glad with the way it went.
“I am able to play. That for me is a huge blessing today because it was probably the complete opposite two days ago.
“I did not practice yesterday, that’s true. I did a lot of things in the last few days to be able to play.”
However, speaking on Thursday, he told Sportklub that the pain was “unbearable”.
“The pain was almost unbearable at some point, I felt pain while tossing the ball,” he said.
“I hope that we will be able to reduce the pain significantly so that I could play the third round. We did an ultrasound and the results had shown that there are no damages.
“I don’t believe that this can be a long-term issue. At least that is what the specialists say. This is uncomfortable because we are at a Slam, but we’ll find a way.”
