He slumped back in his seat, completely exhausted. Forget the physical challenge of facing off against Roger Federer across three sets with just a day of rest for his legs after arriving in London,  immediately after a run to the Paris title that also included a three-set victory against the Swiss legend. No, this was Novak Djokovic, the iron man famed for his recovery, undone after speaking a few words.

But then the question of Viktor Troicki's appeal of a doping suspension was posed to the world No. 2.

Before the query even finished, Djokovic was alert and interjecting.  “I have a little bit of paperwork here done because I knew you were going to ask me about it,” said the Serb as he wrestled to free the paper and take in his self-written notes.

What would follow was a lyrical rollercoaster of a statement. As the pointed words flowed, they were complimented with every possible melodramatic cue. Dramatic pauses bled into incredulous yet unamused laughter, abhorred sighing, head-shaking, a second interlude arrived as he bore down in an ipad for further reference and a copious amount of eye-rolling. When, only 1039 words later, he sat back, a wisp of laughter settled around the room. In plenty other instances, the Djoker would have heartily joined in, but not here. His expression said it allt. This was no laughing matter.

A laughing matter, it was not. There were some satisfactory points raised by the Serb. He spoke at length about the factiousness in professional tennis, with so many different governing bodies all with different, and often opposing, agendas. Within them, conflicts of interests run riot in every level of the sport, and the solutions presented rarely take the player’s best interests into account.

“The general situation in tennis is too complicated because there is an ATP, ITF, Grand Slams, IDTM, so many different governing bodies, associations that are independent in a way,” Djokovic said. “It's so complicated to change anything or to move towards some kind of positive solutions for players or for any other party. You have a player like Nadal, who just says, I have enough, I don't want to have any part of that.”

But as far as he attempted to relate these issues to Troicki’s situation, it seemed completely out of place as it fell solely to Troicki himself to comprehend the seriousness of anti-doping and understand the rules, not any doctor or governing body. Moreover, there was something uncomfortable about Djokovic’s approach to this situation. As his words became sharper and more combative, this complex yet simple case of what was, at worst, miscommunication between a player and doctor suddenly experienced a sudden shift in narrative.

“And because of her [the doctor’s] negligence and because of her unprofessionalism, he is now off the tour for one year,” said Djokovic. “And now it makes me nervous as a player  to do any kind of test […]because of their unprofessionalism, because of their negligence, because of there inability to explain the rules in a proper way. I don't know if they're going to misplace the test that I have or anything worse than that.”

“Now in Viktor's case, he's going to be sanctioned until July next year, and this lady, the DCO, the representative that was there that day, she's going to come back tomorrow for the job.  Nobody is going to answer for that.  Only him.  Why? “

What Djokovic did not appear to realize was that a misunderstanding between two people did not suddenly render the entire anti-doping system incapable of delivering samples and carrying out the duties that they have done for years. More to the point, it is not the doctor’s job to act as an informer, but it is the athlete’s job to understand the rules. The irony, of course, is that it was Troicki’s negligence and unprofessionalism that landed him in this position, and Djokovic’s apparent fear of taking anti-doping tests under the current regime contrasts with the message that this entire sorry situation delivers. Take every test, be diligent with every substance that enters the body, and there is nothing to worry about.

It really could not be any simpler.