Novak Djokovic wears a bike helmet to sign autographs after a water bottle incident

Novak Djokovic showed his humorous side on Saturday as he returned to the Foro Italico and signed autographs while wearing a bicycle helmet over his trademark tennis cap.

The gesture was a reference to the unfortunate incident on Friday evening in which a metal water bottle fell from an autograph hunter’s backpack and landed on Djokovic’s head.

Djokovic underwent medical examinations at the scene after the unexpected blow, which took him completely by surprise and left him lying on the ground in a fetal position for about 30 seconds.

He must have feared for his safety for a moment, but videos showed the bottle had accidentally fallen as the fan leaned over the railing without closing the lid of his bag.

Djokovic is not scheduled to play his second round match against Alejandro Tabilo until Sunday, but he was back on site for training on Saturday. He told reporters he was fine and grinned broadly as he did his usual autograph signing under his bike helmet.

Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal said he is still debating whether to play at Roland Garros after suffering a resounding 6-1, 6-3 defeat to Polish No. 1 Hubert Hurkacz.

Hurkacz is not a man you want to play at the end of his career. He is also known for handing Roger Federer a 6-0 “bagel” at Wimbledon, which turned out to be Federer’s last professional match.

Nadal received a passionate farewell from Italian fans who gathered under the bridge leading away from Rome’s Campo Centrale and chanted his name. However, when he reached the interview room he seemed completely disheartened by his worst defeat on clay in 21 years.

“A tough day for me in every way because I felt more ready than I showed,” Nadal said. “I’m a little more unpredictable today because I haven’t played enough in the last two years. Too many doubts.”

Nadal further explained that he had to decide between two options two weeks before the French Open.

“One of them is to say, ‘Okay, I’m not ready, I’m not playing well enough,'” Nadal said. “Another option is to accept how I am today and work in the right way to try to be different in two weeks.

“As you can imagine, the decision today is not clear to me. But if I have to say what I feel and if my spirit is closer one way or another, I say: be at Roland Garros and try my best. Physically I have some problems, but probably not enough to say that I cannot take part in the most important event of my tennis career.”

The stats suggest Nadal has gained at least some confidence in the health of his troublesome abdominal muscle, which had been limiting his serve speed in recent weeks. At his first clay court tournament in Barcelona three weeks ago, he averaged just 102 miles per hour on his first serve, but in Madrid that rose to about 183 miles per hour and in Rome now to 121 miles per hour.

Unfortunately for Nadal, however, this match is about more than just pace. Lack of accuracy on this first serve resulted in it landing mostly in the middle of the penalty area and it was broken four times in eight games. Combining pace and positioning in one shot will certainly be one of Nadal’s priorities over the next two weeks.

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