Novak Djokovic says his grass court preparations are on track ahead of a bid to equal childhood hero Pete Sampras’ tally of seven Wimbledon men’s singles titles.
The No.1 seed opens Centre Court play on Monday against Korean world No.75 Soonwoo Kwon and brings a 21-match winning streak at The Championships into his opening match.
The Serb’s last defeat at Wimbledon came in 2017 when he retired injured from his quarter-final match against Czech Tomas Berdych. The last completed match he lost here came six years ago against American Sam Querrey.
Many of the sport’s analysts are wondering exactly what level Djokovic will produce when he steps on court for his first match in over three weeks. It will be the 35-year-old’s first competitive outing since he lost in the last eight at Roland-Garros to eventual champion Rafael Nadal.
“So far so good,” was the world No.3’s assessment of his pre-Championships training. “I didn't have any lead-up tournaments to Wimbledon, but I've had success in Wimbledon in the past without having any official matches and tournaments. I just had one exhibition match a few days ago in Hurlingham.
“Over the years, as I said, I had success with adapting quickly to the surface, so there is no reason not to believe that I can do it again.”
Having won a hat-trick of titles, Djokovic can become only the fourth man in the Open era to win four successive singles trophies at Wimbledon.
Sweden’s Bjorn Borg won five straight from 1976 to 1980, Sampras claimed four in a row from 1997 to 2000 and Roger Federer ruled for five successive years between 2003 and 2007.
“Pete Sampras, winning his first Wimbledon, was the first tennis match I've ever seen on the TV,” Djokovic explained. “Pete has won it seven times, if I'm not mistaken. Hopefully, yeah, I can do the same this year.”
The Serb made his debut at Wimbledon in 2005 and over the years has come to understand the most effective methods of adapting to a unique surface.
In recent years, Djokovic has experimented by playing pre-Wimbledon tournaments at London’s Queen’s Club and once in Eastbourne in 2017, but this season chose to rest ahead of his 17th visit to SW19.
“You have to be more careful with the movement, tactics, et cetera, different training regimen,” he said. “Different position on the court. You have to be lower, everything kind of skids through the court. It's very quick and bounces low, contrary to clay which bounces very high.
“All these things that need to be taken into consideration when you're preparing, but of course all the players have their own different routines, different team of people, coaching team, coaching staff that advises them differently.
“It's hard to talk in general what is the proper formula. I know what works for me, but of course everyone is different.”
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