‘I will be very surprised if Novak Djokovic plays Wimbledon,’ says former British No 1

Novak Djokovic has indicated that “rehab is going in the right direction” ahead of Wimbledon, but a former British No 1 doesn’t think the seven-time winner will play at the All England Club this year.

After the initial doom and gloom reports suggested Djokovic would miss Wimbledon and was a major doubt for the 2024 Olympics in Paris after sustaining a serious knee injury, the 24-time Grand Slam winner has made a remarkable recovery and is no touch and go for the grass-court Grand Slam.

Djokovic himself has issued several positive updates since undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee and he has even travelled to Wimbledon to test his knee ahead of the tournament, which gets underway on July 1.

However, former world No 4 Greg Rusedski still feels Djokovic is unlikely to appear in the main draw of the grass-court major.

“I will be very surprised if Novak plays Wimbledon. Great to see him on the court practising, but feel this is more of seeing where he is at and getting good preparation until he is 100%,” he wrote on X.

Djokovic has indicated that he is not going full tilt at training just yet, but there have been several encouraging signs in the past few days.

“Rehab is going in the right direction every single day, a few per cent better and better. That’s what’s giving me hope and encouragement to keep going,” the reigning world No 2 told the BBC .

“I’m taking things gradually. I’m not pushing myself yet 100% but I’m hoping that’s going to come in the next few days.”

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His upbeat status, though, did come with a warning as he has made it clear that he will only enter the main draw if he is fit enough to go all the way.

Djokovic added: “I didn’t come here to play a few rounds.

“If I know I can play close to my maximum or at maximum, then I’ll play. If not, then I’ll give somebody else a chance to play.”

If he does end up playing at the All England Club, then Djokovic will kick off his campaign having not hit a ball in anger since June 3 as he sustained the injury during his fourth-round match at Roland Garros.

He has played a couple of tie-breakers during practice against Argentina’s Federico Coria at Aorangi Park on Monday and will no doubt play some competitive matches during training in the coming days.