ANALYSIS: What went wrong for Novak Djokovic in Wimbledon final

Novak Djokovic made the 2024 Wimbledon final, so is it fair to say that things went wrong for him at the event? The answer to that question is yes and no for different reasons, which we'll get into below.

When you reach a certain level that Novak Djokovic has reached in his career, then finals aren't really what you're looking for. They certainly confirm that you had a really good week, but overall, you still got beaten by somebody, and that's not good enough.

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Djokovic openly admitted ahead of this year's Wimbledon that he's going to compete, but only if he thinks he can win the trophy. The reason why he phrased it that way is because there was a pretty good chance that he might not play at the event at all. The culprit was a knee injury that he sustained at Roland Garros a few weeks earlier.

He tore his meniscus in the match against Francisco Cerundolo but continued to play and actually won it. He would pull out ahead of the next one and undergo surgery immediately because it was a race against time. A surgery like that generally has a 4-6 week recovery time, and Wimbledon was only four weeks away. The Olympic Games were also only six weeks away, so he really needed to start his rehab as soon as possible to retain any chance of playing at those events.

He reached the final at Wimbledon, but where did it go wrong?

He didn't make the decision without consultation, though, but after several doctors recommended it, Djokovic underwent it. His rehab was the stuff of legends because he was able to travel to London one week before Wimbledon and immediately start practising. He ultimately ended up playing despite feeling some stuff around his knee. The level was okay but nothing special; however, with every match, Djokovic looked more and more sure in his play.

That's one of the things that went well for Djokovic at this year's Wimbledon. The ability to recover in time to play at the event and play so well that you actually made the final is impressive. Many were sceptical that it was even possible because his own doctor, who operated on his knee, didn't see it as possible. Andy Roddick also asserted that Djokovic might miss everything until the US Open to really give himself time to recover properly. Djokovic admitted that he rushed back because he didn't want to miss Wimbledon. After some practice, he realized that he could play well, so he elected to play. So what went wrong?

Well, the knee injury is certainly the primary thing that went wrong for him. It happened in the lead-up to Wimbledon, but it certainly impacted his Wimbledon performance most out of everything else. It limited his movement, which is one of his strengths, and it's also something that's very important on grass.

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We've seen that in a few matches where Djokovic was being pushed around by opponents, and most of that was because he was late on the balls. The knee simply wasn't functioning as a fully healthy knee and limited his ability to move well around the court. It was particularly evident in the final against Carlos Alcaraz, which was the match that mattered the most.

Djokovic looked slow and old compared to Alcaraz, and that was mostly because of the movement. Djokovic's shot-making was pretty decent throughout the event, including the final, but if you're late on the balls, there is a finite amount of what you can really do. If he had been able to move into his shots the way he is generally, he could have been more competitive, and that could have changed the trajectory of the match.

The serve is another thing that went wrong for Djokovic because he wasn't able to put too much pressure on his opponent. He never had one of the strongest serves, but it was always very serviceable and precise. Whenever he really needed a good serve, Djokovic was able to muster it up. That wasn't the case in the final because he finished with only eight aces. He also finished with four double faults, which shows that he was pressing quite a bit. Putting 70 % of his first serves into play was decent enough, but Alcaraz just had an answer for it, and it forced Djokovic to play for every point, which was a bad thing as the Spaniard was dominating the rallies due to how Djokovic wasn't able to move as well as he hoped.

Another thing that went poorly for him was the return. We're talking about one of the best returners of all time, and he was barely able to touch Alcaraz's first serve. The Spaniard probably had the best serving performance he's ever had, according to Andy Roddick, who noticed that he did some tweaks compared to earlier years, and it's clearly making an impact.

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Alcaraz dropped only 9 points behind his first serve, and that's pretty amazing against Djokovic. Yes, it was a match on grass, and it's a surface where winning points on return can be somewhat tricky, but we're talking about Djokovic and his return. He wins ten points on return in his sleep against most players, but not on that Sunday.

Finally, what went wrong for Djokovic was that he simply played Carlos Alcaraz. Had he played anybody else, he might have had a chance, but the Spaniard was simply too good and too confident. You could see that he was out for blood as he jumped all over Djokovic early, giving him barely any time to breathe. He knew that he was facing a vulnerable Djokovic, and he didn't even allow the match to be complicated.

Unfortunately, it was just a combination of plenty of things going wrong for Djokovic, who played one of his weaker matches in the final while his opponent played his best match in the final. That on top of the knee and everything else was simply too much, but expect a very motivated Djokovic in the 2nd part of the season, and then we'll see.