Djokovic on his knee: "Taylor Fritz healed even faster than me and gave me advice".
Although Novak Djokovic's presence in the Wimbledon final for the 10th time now seems a foregone conclusion, this was far from the case before the tournament began. When he underwent surgery on June 5, all observers were even convinced that the Serb would not play Wimbledon, and was aiming for a comeback for the Paris Olympics.
The speed with which Djokovic has recovered is very impressive, but not out of the ordinary. The world n°2 reiterated this in his press conference, explaining that he had only followed the advice of specialists in his rehabilitation, and giving the example of Taylor Fritz.
In 2021, the American injured his knee at Roland Garros, leaving the court in a wheelchair. He underwent surgery and made his comeback at Wimbledon, where he made it through 2 rounds before losing in four sets to Alexander Zverev in the 3rd round.
Novak Djokovic: "I didn't want to prove people wrong (about the length of his rehabilitation). I really concentrated on making Wimbledon a reality this year.
And I was never reckless. Reckless would have meant going against the medical experts who were directing the rehab process. And I never did that. I never refused anything. Once we started rehab, I followed everything they told me to do every day. And I did even more than that, I think, by trying to make an effort to make playing Wimbledon possible.
And they were aware of that. But we agreed that we wouldn't talk about my guaranteed participation in Wimbledon until three or four days before the start of the tournament. So, until we get to London, until I test my knee on court, until I play the practice sets, until I really test my knee and see how it reacts.
Everything we've done over the last 20 days and more has given us a positive indication and signal. I understand why people think it's premature, that maybe it's unwise. But I don't think it is, to be honest.
I just followed what they were saying, what they were assessing in terms of the condition of my knee and how it was reacting on a daily basis to the load of the exercises they were putting me through. I keep mentioning this, but let's not forget Taylor Fritz. He was in the same situation and had even fewer days than I did (in 2021).
He came back exactly 21 days after his operation and played three rounds at Wimbledon. A four-set match, a five-set match and another four-set match. It was fantastic. I think, for me, it was really encouraging to know that there was already someone like him who had been through pretty much the same situation.
And, as I said, he was kind enough to share all that with me. It gave me even more confidence that I could do it."
Wimbledon 
