Novak Djokovic says he wants to find a new knee strap before his next match at Wimbledon.
The 24-time Grand Slam made a career of overcoming obstacles on the court and he did the same off of it with his remarkable recovery from knee surgery.
The 37-year-old had surgery on a torn meniscus a month ago and it seemed unlikely he would be ready to play at SW19 this year.
But after a hard week of practice and testing out his knee, Djokovic entered the tournament and stormed through his round one match on a packed Centre Court.
Novak Djokovic says he needs a new knee strap for next Wimbledon match
Djokovic was wearing a grey knee strap during his match against qualifier Vit Kopriva. His movement looked imperious and did not appear to be playing with any limitations during the one hour and 58-minute contest.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion won 90% of points behind his first serve and registered just 16 unforced errors throughout the match.
Post-match Djokovic commented on the colour of his knee strap and aims to find one that matches the all-white colour scheme at Wimbledon in time for round two.
“I did check,” he told reporters post-match. “I actually just met the chairwoman before walking on to the court and she gave me thumbs up, so it was okay. Of course, we did check in the days prior. We are trying to find the right one, trust me.
“Grey I think it is slightly better towards the white. I know it’s not ideal and I like to go all white and respect the rules but I got the permission. I said to them I will do my best for the next match to find a white one.”
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Djokovic dropped just five games on the way to maintaining his unbeaten record in the first round at the All-England Club.
Despite contending with his surgically-repaired knee that is less than 100%, the Serbian seemed to have no issues moving around the court and even slid to reach one ball during a rally.
Post match Djokovic said he did not experience any knee pain, but is wary of tougher tests to come. “For an opening match, I couldn’t ask for a better start,” he said. “Obviously I started a little bit more cautious, I would say. I didn’t really maybe go for certain shots 100 per cent in terms of, like, the far balls at the first set.
“I felt like as the match progressed, I moved better. Those couple points I think when I broke him in the second set, I did one slide. That was the first slide of the grass court season for me. I haven’t done it even in a practice week. So that was a great test.”
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