Novak Djokovic 'the greatest tennis player of all time' in view of Jack Draper, ready to return amid toughest injury of his career

Novak Djokovic is in the view of Jack Draper the greatest tennis player of all time as the Brit gets ready to return to the sport after playing one Davis Cup tie in recent months after a long protracted injury process.

This time last year, he reached World No.4 around this time winning Indian Wells, reaching the finals in Doha and Madrid and making the second week in both the Australian Open and Roland Garros. He had a bone stress injury which affected him in Madrid but he ultimately had six months on the sidelines then had to cut his year short after the US Open.

He has played once since then in Davis Cup but returns this week as fourth seed at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. He called Djokovic a proper inspiration in a pre tournament interview with The National.

“Nothing surprises me with Novak. I think, for me, he’s the greatest tennis player of all time,” said Draper to The National. “He is an example to everyone just of longevity and true greatness.

“I think whenever I watch him play, I’m always inspired by the fact that in Australia, what… he won it, like 10 times? And he’s out there in his 11th final there.

“And for me and for many other players, he’s a proper inspiration and someone that we all look up to and aspire to be like.”

He also will make his return to the sport in a tournament he has surprisingly never played with Dubai only being an ATP 500 as opposed to an ATP 1000 so isn't mandatory for the top names.

“I feel great, honestly, to be here in Dubai. I've actually never played this tournament before, so really excited to be here. I know the Brits love Dubai as well, so to be playing in a tournament that I've watched growing up and seen a lot of my idols playing feels great.

“And then just on a personal level, to be back competing and back on the tour is a really good feeling for me, and I'm excited to get going here this week.”

He also discussed the true mentality behind the injury he has had which he said isn't as easy as some may think to recover from but he believes he is 100% ready to get back to his best and play every week. Albeit he has been tentative with for instance him playing Davis Cup and immediately withdrawing from Rotterdam casting doubts on whether or not he'd be ready for the business end of the year.

“Truthfully, it's not easy mentally to go from being sort of 100 miles an hour and achieving and moving forwards and wins and losses and a lot of adrenaline the whole time to then go back to kind of, not normality, but almost normality, going at a much slower pace,” said the 24-year-old.

“And yeah, it's been way too long since I've been able to compete and able to be out here on the tour, so I used that time. I tried to be grateful to be with my family and to be at home, but at the same time, it was a process to get back on court and I'm happy to be back.”

“That's the toughest thing about the injury I had. There's no right answer. It's not like a hamstring tear or an ab tear where you know it's going to be two weeks, three weeks and then you're going to be fine. This is something that takes months and months and months and often with not a lot of results. And so it's tough to stay positive and tough to keep moving forwards.

“It’s difficult to say at the moment. I’m still at the very end of my process of that. But do I think that I’m going to be good to play full out and play week after week? Absolutely.”

“I think from a recovery point of view, my habits off the court maybe changed a little bit. Like I’m trying to sleep more and recover better. I understand the value of my body a hell of a lot more.

“And I think just learning to maybe slow down a little bit as well and to know that you don’t have to always be working ridiculously hard all the time. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.”