LONDON: In the aftermath of his heartbreaking loss at The Fever-Tree Championships, Novak Djokovic has dismissed the hype surrounding his title chances at Wimbledon next month.
Djokovic narrowly missed out on his first title of the season to Croatia’s Marin Cilic. After taking the opening set, he had a match point in the second, but was unable to convert. To make things worse, he also lost a 4-1 lead in their tiebreaker. Allowing his rival to edge past him before securing victory.
“I thought I have built up the momentum quite well throughout the week. Played great. It wasn’t to be, unfortunately. 4-1 up in the tiebreak, double fault 4-3 up.” He reflected.
“I got a little bit tight there. Obviously he (Cilic) used it. He served well when he needed to.”
Despite the loss, Djokovic can seek solace in his week in London. He progressed to the final without dropping a set. Clinching his first win over a top 10 player this season when he thrashed Grigor Dimitrov. On top of that, he played his first final since returning to the tour in January from an elbow injury.
“I can definitely take a lot of positives out of this week.” He declared.
“I think that the level of my tennis has been as good as it has been the last 12 months.”
Djokovic’s resurgence on the grass has triggered the inevitable hype surrounding his Wimbledon Chances. The Serbian has a win-loss record of 58-10 at The All-England Club. Claiming the title in 2011, 2014 and 2015.
Despite the positive steps, the 31-year-old is refusing to get ahead of himself. Saying that he doesn’t consider himself as a contender to win the upcoming grand slam. He missed six months of the tour last year due to injury and underwent a surgical procedure on his elbow earlier this year.
“I wouldn’t say I’m a contender for a trophy or anything like that. I have to keep my expectations very low, considering my results in the last 12 months.” He commented about his Wimbledon hopes.
“ I’m really happy that I’m able to play this way coming up to Wimbledon. I mean, this (Queen’s) is as big of a tournament as it gets prior to Wimbledon, and I played finals and almost won it. It’s a great result.”
With Djokovic ruling himself out, who is the favorite? Giving his track record Roger Federer should be in theory. Although he has been far from spectacular in Halle and was simply outplayed by Borna Coric in Sunday’s final. As for Cilic, Djokovic believes he has the ability to go one step further than last year. Cilic lost to Federer in the 2017 final.
“I think everyone will agree that Roger is the No. 1 favourite. But Cilic is right up there.” Djokovic analysed. “Next to him. Cilic, Nadal, those guys. Obviously a Grand Slam takes the best out of players. Really motivates you to get to another level, and everybody aims to play their best at this tournament.”
Djokovic will travel to Serbia to reunite with his family before returning to London ahead of the start of Wimbledon. The tournament gets underway on July 2nd.
