Roger Federer might appear at his imperious best, while Rafael Nadal has thrived in the opening week at Wimbledon, but one man you can’t write off is Novak Djokovic.
While Federer and Nadal have dominated the tennis landscape over the past two years – sharing the last six Grand Slam titles since the 2017 Australian Open – the Serb has had to contend with a decline in form and confidence after an elbow injury.
Twelve months ago, Djokovic was forced to retire from a quarter-final encounter against Tomas Berdych after the problem became too serious to continue playing with. The former world No 1 quickly announced he would skip the rest of the season.
Djokovic returned from his six-month injury hiatus in time for the Australian Open but he suffered a disappointing fourth-round exit to Hyeon Chung.
After undergoing a “small medical intervention” on the injury Djokovic was forced to take further time away from the sport.
It is easy to forget he had dominated tennis during a memorable 2015 campaign – when he reached all four Grand Slam titles, losing only at the French Open.
Back-to-back opening match defeats at Indian Wells and Miami would follow and Djokovic took the decision to split with coaches Andre Agassi and Radek Stepanek.
Djokovic was struggling for belief in his game and after a period of reflection went back to his former coach Marian Vajda, who had been instrumental in his previous success.
Defeats to Martin Klizan and Kyle Edmund in Barcelona and Madrid raised further questions but a run to the Rome semi-finals was backed up with progress to the French Open quarter-finals.
After accepting a wild card to play at Queen’s Club, the 12-time Grand Slam champion produced some impressive performances before squandering a match point to lose against Marin Cilic in the final.
