A lot can happen in 12 months. Just ask Novak Djokovic who came into last year’s Wimbledon as the holder of all four grand slam titles but has since relinquished his grip on the men’s game in spectacular fashion. The Serb, who begins his campaign for a fourth Wimbledon title against Slovakian Martin Klizan on Centre Court, has not lifted a grand slam trophy since last year’s French Open. It has been a dismal period for Djokovic who has also relinquished his number one ranking and failed to get past the third round in two of his last four grand slam appearances.
He has at least tasted some rare recent success, having broken with tradition to play a pre-Wimbledon warm-up at Eastbourne, where he won his first title since January by beating Gael Monfils last week. That allowed him to not only tune up his grass court game but also lift his spirits after a testing few months. “Just overall very happy with the way it went, and where my form is at,” he told reporters after Saturday’s final. Seven times winner Roger Federer will also entertain fans on Centre Court on Tuesday and should be in good shape when he faces Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov, having skipped the entire clay court season to prepare for Wimbledon.
In the women’s draw, Germany’s world number one Angelique Kerber is in action against Irina Falconi of the United States and third seed Karolina Pliskova, who won the women’s tournament at Eastbourne, plays Russian Evgeniya Rodina. The Serb was the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four Grand Slam titles at the same time and had won Wimbledon in 2014 and 2015, adding to his 2011 triumph. So when he strolled onto Court One to face Sam Querrey in the Wimbledon third round there appeared no end in sight to Djokovic’s reign as the sport’s preeminent force.
Instead, he gave such a curiously lethargic performance that Querrey was able to win the rain-interrupted encounter to end the then World No 1’s streak of 30 straight Grand Slam match victories. It was a seismic shock and plunged Djokovic into a tail-spin. Djokovic has lurched from one problem to another in 2017, losing to World No 117 Denis Istomin in the second round of the Australian Open. Having parted with Coach Boris Becker at the end of last year, he has split with long-time associate Marian Vajda.
Djokovic has also taken to consulting regularly with ‘spiritual adviser’ Pepe Imaz, a former player who runs a tennis academy in Spain for underprivileged children, called “Amor y Paz” (love and peace). In recent months Imaz’s influence has been seen in Djokovic’s new habit of forming a heart shape with his hands and gesturing to the crowd after he wins a match. Unfortunately for Djokovic, those displays of affection have been few and far between as he slumped to surprise defeats against Nick Kyrgios and Alexander Zverev, hungry youngsters who displayed the drive so noticeably missing from his game in recent months.
