Novak Djokovic will return to his favoured grass court at All England Club on July 1. The Serbian tennis icon sealed fourth Wimbledon title in final stroll over Kevin Anerson in last year.
The world number one is training this week at the Tipsarevic Academy in Belgrade on hard courts – there are no grass courts in Serbia, and told press that there is a grass-court someday in his country.
“Find me a grass court in Belgrade and I will practice there. We don’t have any in Serbia, do we? I am really hopeful that we will build some grass courts soon enough, but these hard courts will do for the time being.” Djokovic said.
“The reason I am training here at the moment is because it’s the most similar surface to grass in terms of ball speed and player movement.” Djokovic added.
Djokovic played Queen’s Club last year because he needed matches, and wanted to raise his ranking from No. 22. He finished runner-up to Marin Cilic and went on to win the first of three consecutive Grand Slam tournaments.
“The situation is a bit different this time because I played very few matches prior to last year’s Wimbledon due to my injury and the elbow surgery,” Djokovic said.
“I plummeted down to 22nd on the ATP Tour but the extensive layoff gave me enough time to prepare for Wimbledon by entering the Queen’s tournament as a warm-up.’
“This year, the exertions of a lengthy claycourt season prompted me to skip Queen’s and go straight to Wimbledon.” Djokovic added.
Djokovic lost to Dominic Thiem in last month’s French Open semi-finals, the defeat ended a run of 26 Grand Slam match wins in a row for 2016 champion.
“I put a lot of pressure on myself before the French Open to make it four grand slams in a row again but having failed this time, I am going to Wimbledon with less weight on my shoulders as it’s the start of a new cycle,” Djokovic said.
“I always have the highest ambitions and this year is no different. I am top of the rankings and defending my Wimbledon title, hence I am hoping to go all the way again. However, reality can be very different.” he added.
