WIMBLEDON, England — Should Novak Djokovic make a deep run at Wimbledon this year, he will have Taylor Fritz to thank.
The 26-year-old Californian was on the short list of athletes Djokovic called after he tore the medial meniscus in his right knee in the fourth round of the French Open.
Djokovic was all but counted out for Wimbledon because the surgery he had June 5 to repair the tear generally requires a recovery of three to six weeks. But the seven-time champion at the All England Club knew Fritz underwent the same procedure in 2021 and played his first-round match at Wimbledon just 21 days later. Djokovic tapped into his network of elite athletes, also chatting with three-time Grand Slam tournament winner Stan Wawrinka and champion skier Lindsey Vonn about their experiences recovering from the same surgery and decided to give Wimbledon a go.
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So far, so good. The 37-year-old Djokovic reported Saturday that his knee responded well after playing practice sets against Daniil Medvedev, Frances Tiafoe, Holger Rune and Jannik Sinner throughout the week and that he hasn’t had “a single setback” in his recovery, living up to the description Carlos Alcaraz used for him earlier in the day in a Spanish-language news conference: “superhumano.”
Djokovic did laugh when he heard that.
“I still have couple days’ time. I play on Tuesday,” he said. “I’m confident about the health of my knee, and just general physical state is really good. Obviously, once the tournament starts, I’ll have more, I guess, sensations and more feedback from how [the] knee reacts to a best-of-five Grand Slam match. So far everything that was done was very positive.”
Djokovic said he won’t feel the need to baby his knee when he steps on court for his first-round match against Vit Kopriva of the Czech Republic. He wouldn’t be in the draw if he didn’t feel he could play with his normal intensity.
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But just because Djokovic can play doesn’t mean he should. He acknowledged Saturday that he is taking a risk, especially at his age, and especially because he plans to run the full gantlet that is this summer’s tennis schedule with the Paris Olympics falling between Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.
Djokovic has won his seven Wimbledon titles in 18 appearances and reached the final each of the past five years. His record of 24 Grand Slam titles appears safe, and what most everyone has regarded as the driving force in his career — the need to prove himself — has been removed from the equation.
All that’s left, then, is his nature.
“I would just say it’s this incredible desire to play, just to compete. Particularly because it is Wimbledon, the tournament that always has been a dream tournament for me when I was a kid. I always dreamed of playing Wimbledon,” he said. “Just the thought of me missing Wimbledon was just not correct. I didn’t want to deal with that.”
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He will play Tuesday as the greats of his generation continue to fade, losing battles inevitably to age and injury. Andy Murray, 37, is entered into the draw but had back surgery a week ago to remove a cyst and hasn’t made his final decision about playing singles. (He received a wild card to play doubles with his brother, Jamie.) Rafael Nadal, 38, opted to skip Wimbledon with the hope of preserving his body for the Olympics.
“I know that Olympics are right after that on a completely different surface. I know all of that,” Djokovic said. “But I’m thinking about Wimbledon. It’s a dream tournament. I needed to focus all my attention to that. … I haven’t had any setback. If I had one setback, I would be then questioning whether I should be here or not. But I haven’t had a single one. Why not give it a shot?”
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