Novak Djokovic increasingly confident of making Wimbledon after Daniil Medvedev practice match - ‘I am pain free’
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Updated 29/06/2024 at 09:14 GMT
Novak Djokovic sparked renewed optimism that he will be playing at the All England Club after emerging unscathed from an exhibition match against Daniil Medvedev. After coming through the match "pain free", it is hoped that the world No. 2 has progressed far enough in his recovery from knee surgery. The 37-year-old has endured a frustrating start to 2024, and is still waiting to win his first titl
Alcaraz, Djokovic and Sinner look good in Wimbledon training sessions
Novak Djokovic provided a positive update regarding his fitness ahead of Wimbledon, after emerging "pain free" from an exhibition match against Daniil Medvedev.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion was a major doubt for the tournament having undergone knee surgery just three weeks before Wimbledon gets underway.
Djokovic was also forced to pull out of the French Open ahead of his quarter-final tie against Casper Ruud earlier this month.
However, it is more likely that the 37-year-old will be fit enough to face Vit Kopriva in his first-round tie on Monday.
He said: "I can tell you that I enjoyed myself really, really much today.
"I can tell you that pain-free tennis is the best tennis. I was pain free and I'm really glad. It was a great test obviously against one of the best players in the world.
"I've played a couple of practice sets but I really wanted to test myself. The test was very successful so I'm obviously really glad. It's been an intense three weeks after surgery, spending a lot of hours rehabbing.
"I kind of always wanted to give myself a chance to be in London. I think my surgeon is here. He's the MVP for sure the last three weeks. I'm trying to take it day by day and see how far it goes."
Djokovic left no stone unturned in his quest to be fit in time to play at SW19, talking with several stars across different sports.
This included American No.1 Taylor Fritz, who also faced a race against time to play at Wimbledon in 2021.
"I asked him, I asked many athletes - [Stan] Wawrinka, Lindsey Vonn, Zlatan Ibrahimovic - and they were all very kind to share some of their experiences and give me some contacts of people who could help me out," he explained.
Medvedev was on the receiving end of Djokovic’s revival, succumbing to a 6-3 6-4 defeat at the Giorgio Armani Tennis Classic at Hurlingham.
The world No. 5 felt that Djokovic looked in fine fettle.
"He seems to be fine," Medvedev told the PA news agency. "You never know what he feels inside of him.
"It's a five-set match on grass [at Wimbledon], never easy for the knee, so I don't know how it's going to go during the matches. But he seemed to be moving well, even if I got him off guard a little bit."
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Stream daily highlights from Wimbledon at 10pm UK time, as well as the two singles finals live on July 13 and 14, on discovery+
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