Novak Djokovic gets his latest Wimbledon campaign underway later today, as he once again begins down the long road to that elusive 25th Grand Slam title.
At present, it seems like this is all the 38-year-old is still playing for, reinforced by his heavily reduced schedule.
He prioritises the majors more and more with each new year, but in doing so, affords himself little preparation.
This has worked relatively well thus far, reaching the semi-finals in both the Australian Open and Roland Garros.
However, it remains to be seen whether that trend will continue on the grass courts of Wimbledon.
Martina Navratilova left stunned by Novak Djokovic decision
Speaking on the Tennis Channel Live podcast after the first day of Wimbledon action, the panel addressed everything from Carlos Alcaraz’s marathon match vs Fabio Fognini to Daniil Medvedev’s early upset.
And, once finished, they moved on to Tuesday’s events, notably Novak Djokovic.
He is bidding to win his record-breaking 25th Grand Slam title, with this event seen as his best chance of achieving that.
However, his lack of Wimbledon preparation left Navratilova somewhat stunned, admitting: ‘He’s got another tough draw ahead of him, so it will take a monumental effort.
‘But again, you can’t put anything past Novak. He certainly knows how to play on this stuff.
‘I’m really surprised that he didn’t play any matches, that he didn’t play one tournament, the week in between but he knows better than anyone how to prepare.
‘It’s just a different cadence to matches, to the rhythm, to the points, but if anybody can get out of the corners fast enough to win points, that’s Novak Djokovic, so we’ll see what happens.’
Wimbledon is Novak Djokovic’s ‘best chance’ for a 25th Grand Slam title
Speaking ahead of Wimbledon this year, having not played a single grass-court event in the lead-up, the Serbian still remained positive about his chances.
In fact, he arguably ramped up the pressure on himself, admitting that this marked his best chance of that elusive 25th major title.
He told reporters: ‘I would probably agree that Wimbledon could be the best chance because of the results I had, because of how I feel, how I play at Wimbledon, just getting that extra push mentally and motivation to perform the best tennis at the highest level.’
Djokovic has reached the final here in the last six iterations of the competition, but has lost the previous two to Alcaraz.
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