"I was pain free and I'm really glad": Novak Djokovic set to play Wimbledon after 'successful' test during practice game

Serbia’s legendary tennis star Novak Djokovic has revealed that he is ‘pain-free’ after taking part in the warm-up match ahead of the Wimbledon 2024. The third Grand Slam of the year will begin on Monday, and players from all over the world will participate and battle to secure the ultimate prize.

The 37-year-old is often regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of men’s tennis in the Open era, having won as many as 24 Grand Slam titles in his illustrious career. He is going through a difficult season, and he has yet to play in the final of any event.

That streak continued in the French Open, where Djokovic was forced to withdraw from the mega-event just before the start of the quarterfinal against Norway’s Casper Ruud because of a knee injury. That withdrawal ended up costing him the top spot in the ATP rankings, and he was replaced at the top by Italy’s Jannik Sinner.

After suffering that injury, Djokovic underwent surgery, which cast doubts about his participation in the mega-events such as Wimbledon and Paris Olympics. The Belgrade-born star, however, returned to the court in London where he took part in a practice match against Russia’s Daniil Medvedev at the Giorgio Armani Tennis Classic, where he lost in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-4.

Talking after the match, the former world number one stated that he feels pain-free after playing in the practice match and expressed excitement about participation in the upcoming mega-event. "I can tell you that I enjoyed myself really, really much today,” he said. "I can tell you that pain-free tennis is the best tennis. I was pain free and I'm really glad. It was a great test obviously against one of the best players in the world. I've played a couple of practice sets but I really wanted to test myself. The test was very successful so I'm obviously really glad.”

Djokovic will start his Wimbledon campaign against the Czech Republic’s Vit Kopriva. The current world number two has an outstanding record while playing at Wimbledon, where he has lifted the title seven times, the joint second-best in the competition’s history, only behind former world number one Switzerland’s Roger Federer, who lifted the title eight times.