Novak Djokovic‘s recovery from meniscus surgery this year was incredible, and according to his physio, it’s all down to his willpower.
The Serbian injured his knee over a month ago at Roland Garros and underwent meniscus surgery in the days after that. He rushed to get under the knife after concluding that there was no other way for him to give himself a chance to play at Wimbledon.
He talked about the process during his stay in London, admitting that doctors told him that surgery was the only option if he wanted to do what he set out to do. He even contacted Taylor Fritz in hopes of the American sharing how he recovered from the same predicament in record time to play at Wimbledon in the past.
As we now know, it proved to be a successful undertaking by the Serbian, as he’s not only playing at Wimbledon this year but playing really well. He’s in the semi-final, in which he’ll face Lorenzo Musetti for a spot in the final.
The recovery was challenging and it wasn’t perfect because Djokovic still has some sensations in the knee that impact him, but for the most part, he’s given himself a chance to play at the event in record time.
That undertaking wouldn’t be possible without a lot of willpower, which the Serbian clearly possesses. A famous French physio, Jean-Georges Cellier, who has worked with Djokovic, praised his willpower.
He noted that he had worked with many great athletes but had never seen a player with as much willpower as Djokovic. This is true because much of what went right in his career came down to him simply pushing and wanting to prove everyone wrong.
“I have been working with enormously great sportsmen, Olympic champions, but a man with so much willpower? I didn’t know that it existed.”
