Novak Djokovic gave a positive update on his recovery from knee surgery on Saturday ahead of Wimbledon. The 24-time champion underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus after withdrawing before the Roland Garros quarter-finals.
“I arrived here on Sunday. It’s been a week of training. A great week of training. I have had, especially in the last three days, very intense tennis sessions. I had points. Practice sets were played with Sinner, with Frances Tiafoe, with Medvedev yesterday, with Emil Ruusuvuori, actually twice, and then today with Rune, again,” said Djokovic, who will play Czech qualifier Vit Kopriva in the first round. “High intensity. I guess there are many situations in the field where the knee is tested almost as high. Change of directions, etc.
“The knee has responded well to all of that so far, which is a good sign for my participation at Wimbledon. That’s why I decided to enter the top.”
Djokovic revealed that he still has some time before he starts his tournament on Tuesday, but explained that he is “confident” about the health of his knee and general physical condition.
“Obviously once the tournament starts, I’ll have more of what I think I’m hearing and more of an answer about how the knee is going to handle a best-of-five Grand Slam match,” Djokovic said. “So far everything that has been done has been very good.”
The Serbian revealed that he “made a quick decision” to have the surgery and that he was “very hesitant to do Wimbledon”. But he spoke to Taylor Fritz, who went through a similar situation three years ago.
“He said after 21 days [the injury] played his first round at Wimbledon. Wawrinka, Lindsey Vonn, they all talked about their experiences,” said Djokovic. “Actually, that gave me faith and hope that if the rehab is done well and correctly, and if the knee responds well, which is very unlikely, then there is a good chance that I will do Wimbledon.”
[ATP APP]The reporter asked Djokovic why it is so important for him to return to the game as soon as possible, considering the wealth of experience and success he has achieved at this level.
In part, Djokovic explained, “It’s this incredible desire to play, just to compete. Mainly because it’s Wimbledon, a tournament that has always been my dream tournament since I was a kid. I always wanted to play Wimbledon. The thought that I missed Wimbledon was wrong. I didn’t want to deal with that.”
The 37-year-old also made it clear that he did not come to Wimbledon just to show that he can compete in “one or two matches”.
“I want to fight for the title,” said Djokovic. “So the last three days have given me enough hope and good signs that I can actually be in a position to compete at a very high level in the next few weeks, hopefully.”
The good news for Djokovic is that he was not disturbed during his recovery.
“If I could go back, I would be wondering if I should be here or not,” said Djokovic. “But I never had one. Why don’t you shoot it?”
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