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Tennis – Serbia’s Novak Djokovic poses with a trophy as he celebrates the 2019 Wimbledon final victory over Swiss Roger Federer. All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, United Kingdom – 14 July 2019 REUTERS / Toby Melville
BELGRADE, June 25 (Reuters) – Novak Djokovic leaves for Wimbledon with a spectacular French Open victory. The goal is to stay on course to complete the calendar year’s Grand Slam tournament as well as rise to level with 20 big companies with Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer.
The 34-year-old Serb has the opportunity to meet two major rivals and also become the first man after Rod Laver in 1969 to win all four major companies in the same year.
Djokovic still has many hurdles, but when Nadal doesn’t play at Wimbledon and Federer has lost so much tennis in the last two years, he has a chance, maybe even run the Golden Slam, also winning the Tokyo Olympics.
“I think he’s ready to give it a picture. I think he can do it,” Eurosport expert and seven-time Grand Slam champion Mats Wilander said.
“I think he wants to show himself to be superhuman. And I think he’s superhuman when I see him play. I think his body can handle it. I feel like he’ll probably have to play matches to keep the intensity high – so this is the year, allowing Novak to win the golden slam in my eyes.
After winning the Australian Open in February, Djokovic initially struggled with European clay.
But after dismantling Nadal’s French Open semi-final, he went on to claim the title a second time, returning from two sets to beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in the riveting final.
Djokovic’s preparation to defend the Wimbledon title he won in 2019 took an unusual turn when he decided to spend family time on the Spanish island of Mallorca, fine-tuning his game by playing double grass at the Mallorca Open.
“I wanted to spend more time with my family because when you’re in London, you’re in a locked state,” Djokovic, who is moving to COVID-19-Bubble in Wimbledon this week, said.
World number one Djokovic is a favorite to win Wimbledon, but he’s cautious that the only second time he went there to defend the French Open champion in 2016, he got out of the hands of American Sam Querrey early on.
While Nadal is away and eight-time champion Federer may be on the move, Djokovic has a huge field ahead of him.
But in parity with Federer and Nadal, almost in his hands, he’s a hard nut to crack, and he can go to the US Open in August for history.
By Zoran Milosavljevic and Martyn Herman; edited by Pritha Sarkar
Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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