Novak Djokovic is unlikely to play any warm-up events ahead of his title defence at the Wimbledon Championships, according to his coach.
The world No.1 hasn’t played a match on the Tour since his four-set loss to Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals of the French Open. So far this year Djokovic has managed to record a total of 16 wins against five losses with his only title occurring at the Italian Masters in Rome. Although he only played one tournament during the first three months of 2022 due to a high-profile court battle with Australian authorities over his visa which resulted in his deportation. Due to not being vaccinated against COVID-19, he was also forced to miss events in America.
Reflecting on Djokovic’s latest loss to Nadal, coach Goran Ivanisevic has told Sport Klub that the tennis star needs time to ‘recover mentally’ and it is unlikely that he will play another event prior to the next Grand Slam.
“Probably nothing [before Wimbledon]. We will see more, but now is the time to recover mentally,” Ivanisevic told Sportklub. “As I said before, people like Novak are geniuses with a different way of thinking – they need a little time to probably return nothing and put some things together in their head, but it still takes time.
“Then that’s it, and he has experienced disappointments before, I know he will be ready for the grass.”
This year Djokovic is bidding to win Wimbledon for the seventh time in his career which will move him to joint-second on the all-time list for more titles won at the tournament in the Open Era. He has won five out of the past seven editions of the event.
Next week Djokovic will lose his No.1 ranking to Russia’s Daniil Medvedev, who is suspended from playing at Wimbledon this year.
Another player who will not be playing any warm-up events on the grass is Spanish sensation Carlos Alcaraz who has already won two Masters 1000 and two ATP 500 titles this season. The 19-year-old was set to play at Queen’s next week but has withdrawn due to a ‘slight elbow issue.’
“I don’t have much experience on grass, but I felt comfortable at Wimbledon in 2021. I’m going there to try to win the tournament like in every event I enter,” Alcaraz said earlier this week in Murcia.
The teenager has only played eight full Tour matches on the grass. Six of those was in 2019 when he played on the ITF junior circuit. He played two as a pro last year at The All England Club.
The Wimbledon Championships will begin on June 27th.
