Novak Djokovic, the Serbian tennis legend, will test his luck on the grass after his quarterfinals run in the French Open. He will play the major as his first event on grass. Therefore, people seem concerned about his performance.

However, the Serb has experience in executing brilliant runs with no practice. In the past few years, he hasn’t played any warm-up tournaments except for the doubles in Mallorca Open. Though this year he skipped the doubles as well.

Novak Djokovic about playing Wimbledon without enough warm-up

While in the pre-tournament interview at Wimbledon, the 20-time Grand Slam champion spoke about how he doesn’t feel that playing warm up tournaments is a feasible option. He said, “last year, there was only two weeks between the finals of French Open and the first round of Wimbledon. In those particular circumstances, especially if you have played like all the way through, it’s difficult to change the very next day. So everyday you get a little bit of rest and reset helps. But then we are all different.”

“There are players competing and playing as many official matches as possible because they see that’s the best kind of practice. And there are players that don’t need to play much but need a good balance between competing and resting. So I am more into the second group. I didn’t have too many issues to adapt quickly to the surface. And over the years, I learned how to play more efficiently on the surface as well.” 

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Last year on 13th June Djokovic defeated the Greek tennis ace Stefanos Tsitsipas in the five set long finals of French Open. Thereafter, he started his doubles run in Mallorca Open, and just four days after its completion, he jumped into the first round of Wimbledon. Thus, leaving very little room for resting before a big event. Therefore, unlike last year, this year the 35-year-old flew back to his homeland to practice and rest before the Wimbledon Championship.

Who is the Djokovic’s first opponent?

Djokovic will meet the young blood from South Korea Kwon Soon-woo as his first rival. The 24-year-old who recently achieved a career high ranking of World No. 52 will lock horns with the world No.3 on Monday.

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Further, their first encounter was in 2021 for a seat in the quarterfinals of the clay-based tournament in Belgrade, where the Serb claimed an easy straight set victory of 6-1, 6-3. This will be their first match on grass and the defending champion is widely expected to breeze past the South Korean. Do you think the Serb will secure his 7th Wimbledon title this year?