Novak Djokovic has expressed confidence in his knee’s ability to endure the rigors of Wimbledon, despite his wife Jelena’s concerns about his swift return post-surgery. The seven-time Wimbledon champion, who recently withdrew from the French Open due to a right knee injury, has since undergone surgery.
Surprisingly, Djokovic was back on Centre Court for practice with Jannik Sinner on Thursday. The next day, he played an exhibition match at the Giorgio Armani Tennis Classic, defeating Daniil Medvedev 6-3 6-4, and reported being pain-free.
Reflecting on his decision to return so quickly, Djokovic said, “It’s a very fair question that I don’t know the answer to and I do know the answer to, to be honest. My wife also kind of asked the same question. Which is normal. 37 years old, you want to maybe have less risk and prepare yourself for the Olympic Games.”
Despite these concerns, Djokovic emphasized his strong desire to compete at Wimbledon. “I wouldn’t call it a fear of missing out. I would just say it’s this incredible desire to play, just to compete. Particularly because it is Wimbledon, the tournament that always has been a dream tournament for me when I was a kid. I always dreamed of playing Wimbledon. Just the thought of me missing Wimbledon was just not correct. I didn’t want to deal with that.”
Djokovic also highlighted his determination to see how quickly he could recover and compete at a high level. “I wanted to see how fast can I really recover, and can I really be in a condition to compete for best-of-five on grass with best players in the world. I really want to go for the title. So the last three days have given me enough optimism and good signs that I can actually be in a state to compete on the highest level for the next few weeks hopefully.”
Djokovic’s commitment to Wimbledon, even with the Olympics on the horizon, showcases his dedication. “It’s probably less of a rational and logical explanation, but more of that inner feeling and sensation of really great desire to play Wimbledon. Any Grand Slam, but particularly Wimbledon for me.”
He concluded by noting his rigorous rehab and training regime over the past three weeks, stating that the lack of setbacks has fueled his decision to compete. “We put a huge amount of hours in the last three weeks on a daily basis into rehab, into exercises, basically raising the level of intensity of training and rehab every single day, of course being very cautious of the knee and the reactions. I haven’t had any setback. If I had one setback, I would be then questioning whether I should be here or not. But I haven’t had a single one. Why not give it a shot?”
Novak Djokovic in 2024
WWWWLWWLWL At the moment ranked no.2, Novak played his last match on the 3rd of June when he defeated world no.27 Francisco Cerundolo 6-1 5-7 3-6 7-5 6-3 in the 4th round of the French Open (draw).
Currently, during this year Djokovic has a composed 18-6 record. Novak Djokovic’s best result of the current season was getting to the semifinal at the Australian Open, Monte Carlo and Geneva.
Novak Djokovic will square off with the world no.123 Vit Kopriva in the 1st round. They have never competed against each other till now in top competitions.
Novak won 99 titles in his career: 53 on hard courts, 19 on clay courts, 19 on indoor courts and 8 on grass courts. (See the list of his titles)
Djokovic is scheduled to play next at the Wimbledon (Wimbledon). He will start from the main draw that will commence on the 1st of July.
Novak Djokovic |
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