Novak Djokovic will play in the 2024 Wimbledon Championships final, but former ATP player Jim Courier doesn’t think it would have happened without the grass.
The 37-year-old Serbian had knee surgery a month ago, which almost ruled him out of Wimbledon. The doctor who operated on his knee told the media that he didn’t think Djokovic could play at the Championships.
It seems almost impossible, similarly to how Taylor Fritz managed to pull off a similar stunt, but the 24-time major winner managed to recover in time and on top of that make the final of the grass-court major.
The run to the final was particularly impressive, but for former player Courier, it’s solely because the tournament is played on grass. The surface is unique as most players don’t get many chances to play on it, so it’s hard for them to understand it well.
Djokovic has played many matches on the low-bouncing surface, and he knows it well, which likely helps him at SW19 this year. Courier compared Roger Federer to Djokovic, noting that both of them can play very average tennis on grass but still make a deep run because they know how to play on grass much better than the rest of the field.
“I don’t think he could have done it on another surface. I think his
knowledge of how to play on this surface is far superior than most of the other players. I said it on the show the other day.”
“Federer felt the same way. He could play average and get to the quarter-finals because most players just don’t know how to play. I don’t think Novak could have made the finals this comfortably on hard or clay.”
However, Djokovic will need to be at a higher level to beat someone like Carlos Alcaraz. He couldn’t do it last year, but he will get a chance to get the revenge this year.
