“The guy made the final on no prep but made a final,” Andy Roddick defends Djokovic after criticism over Wimbledon loss

Andy Roddick defended Novak Djokovic's performance at Wimbledon. The Serbian reached the final for the 10th time in his career but fell short against Carlos Alcaraz, who claimed the victory comfortably with a 6-2, 6-2, 7-6(4) win, securing his 4th Grand Slam title.

Djokovic's performance at the All England Club was quite surprising, considering he had undergone knee surgery just weeks before the tournament began. Despite this, the Serbian managed to hasten his recovery and, at 37 years old, achieved a great campaign at the third Grand Slam of the year.

Andy Roddick backs Djokovic after Wimbledon setback

The 2003 US Open champion analyzed Djokovic's journey to the final on his podcast "Served with Andy Roddick." Djokovic defeated Victor Kopriva (No. 123), Jacob Fearnley (No. 277), and Alexei Popyrin (No. 47) to get through the first week of competition. In the Round of 16, he defeated 15th seed Holger Rune in straight sets.

Read also

ANALYSIS: Men's Winners and Losers 2024 Wimbledon including Djokovic, Alcaraz, Musetti, Sinner and Draper

For the quarterfinals, Djokovic didn't even have to take the court, benefiting from Alex De Minaur's withdrawal after an unfortunate injury in the fourth round. In the semifinals, Djokovic beat Lorenzo Musetti (No. 25) before facing Alcaraz in the final. "The guy made the final on no prep, like he showed up the Monday before and was like, ‘Let’s wing it’, and wasn’t right the first couple of rounds but made a final," Roddick said.

"Are we gonna say he’s slow? He’s not slow, he’s 37, he’s slower than he was five years ago but the guy’s one of the best movers of all time. His ball striking was great, his serve was average, he didn’t volley well at all,” the former world No. 1 added. "But there’s a couple of things there are also… like I read comments and it was like ‘Knee’s bad! Knee’s good!’. Ok, knee can be healthy, not injured, and also because of the knee injury, you’re not as physically dialed as we’ve come to expect you to be, by no fault of your own."

Djokovic played with protection on his knee throughout the tournament, just few weeks after surgery.

Roddick also commented on Djokovic's difficulties in winning points at the net. The 7-time Wimbledon champion is usually one of the best net players on grass. However, he only won 51% of net points, compared to Alcaraz's 73%, which was one of the key differences favoring the Spaniard.

"The other thing is people like ‘Oh Novak’s volleys are horrible!’. Okay, time out, let’s just stop. Nothing he does on the tennis court is horrible. Because he lost to another younger player who is going to also be one of the all-time greats, doesn’t mean we can deal on absolutes," Roddick added.

Read also

BBC suffers massive drop in viewership during Wimbledon Finals weekend featuring Alcaraz-Djokovic rematch

"People were like, ‘Oh he’s missing those drop shots’. They’re below his net, he’s hitting it up to the fastest person on the planet. There’s an extra layer with everything you do when you’re playing the greats even if you’re a great," the American added.