Wimbledon: Grass is for the G.O.A.T, and Novak Djokovic is ready for it | Tennis News – Times of India

LONDON: The morning sky at SW19 was of a weepy hue, in the distance the St Mary’s Church bells chimed. A signal. The Championships, starting Monday, is the first Wimbledon after Roger Federer retired from the sport; the Swiss, who these grounds embraced as their very own, was Lord of the lawns, having won here eight times. Adored and adorned.
By the end of the fortnight, this grass-court Slam could have another awe-inspiring hero at the helm. Novak Djokovic is going for a record-equaling eighth Wimbledon title and ground-altering 24th Grand Slam crown.
The No.2 seed is on a 28-match winning streak here, having not lost a match on these premises since 2016. He’s unbeaten on Centre Court since 2013.At Aorangi Park, Wimbledon’s popular practice set up, the seven-time champion hit with Andy Murray, who incidentally is the only player in the draw of 128 to have beaten Djokovic on grass.
The Serb, in mint condition, showed sparks of his remarkable mental and physical elasticity, during the hour-long session, apologizing for balls that were wide only by a hair’s breadth.
The 36-year-old, supreme on hardcourts, was stirring on clay last month where he claimed his third Roland Garros title, but it is grass and Wimbledon in particular that best illustrates the Serb’s growth as a player.

His return, especially off the backhand, has changed the contours of a riposte. Against Djokovic, you haven’t broken until you’ve held. On a scale of one to ten, his serves have sharpened from six to eight. The world No. 2’s sneaky use of the real estate has stretched the square measure down the other end, while his own electric coverage has shrunk his side of the court.
Grass is not a surface Djokovic grew up on, but Wimbledon was a long-time dream.
“I got to top-100 in the world for the first time here in Wimbledon (2005), reached the third round as a teenager here. This tournament has a lot of significance statistically too,” Djokovic said, adding, “Then for several years, I struggled to take my game to the next level on grass.”

“For me it’s natural to slide and grass is not a forgiving surface when it comes to sliding, extreme sliding motions. I had to learn how to move, how to walk, how to play. It does take time — more than any other surface — to really get used to it.”
The Serb won his first Wimbledon title in 2011 and in the last eight seasons (excluding 2020 when The Championships weren’t held) he has won six.
Djokovic, who claimed the year’s first two majors, is coming into this charming setting, where the tradition teases modernity, looking for a victory that will keep his hopes alive for a historic calendar Grand Slam, heading into New York in August.

Should he manage to tick all four boxes in 2023, it’ll put him on a whole different thermosphere, separating him from his closest rivals Federer and Rafael Nadal Djokovic, who hasn’t played an official match coming into the grass-court major, opens proceedings on Centre Court on Monday against Argentina’s Pedro Cachin, ranked 67.
The two have never met. The top-half of the draw, headed by Carlos Alcaraz, appears less predictable maybe because it also has the third seed Daniil Medvedev and the sixth seed Holger Rune, but again, it may only be because Djokovic is lodged in the bottom-half.