LONDON \u2014 Novak Djokovic\u00a0knows just what it means to have to live up to lofty expectations after years of titles and trophies.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s 39 and is a 24-time Grand Slam champion who now plays only sparingly.<\/p>\n
So he\u2019s better positioned than almost anyone else to analyze what\u00a0Serena Williams\u00a0\u2014 a seven-time\u00a0Wimbledon\u00a0singles champion just like he is \u2014 must have been feeling after losing at the All England Club earlier this week in\u00a0the first singles match that she played in nearly four years.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople always expect you to play at your best because they\u2019re used to seeing you dominate the sport for many years,\u201d Djokovic said. \u201cShe\u2019s 44.\u00a0She has two children. Coming back, it\u2019s normal that she still is not at her best in terms of movement. She hasn\u2019t played a match in so many years. People need to cool off a little bit with judgment and criticism and everything. Let\u2019s just enjoy the greatness, who she is, what she represents to the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n
Williams was beaten 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-3 by 20-year-old\u00a0Maya Joint\u00a0of Australia in the first round on Tuesday but showed she could be competitive with an opponent less than half her age after being away for so long.<\/p>\n
Williams still cranked out serves faster than 120 mph and dictated points with her heavy groundstrokes. But movement was an issue and the 87th-ranked Joint was able to win more of the big points by hitting beyond the reach of the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer wanting to give it a try and just come back is an incredible gift for our sport,” Djokovic said. “I think people sometimes \u2014 I don\u2019t know why \u2014 they don\u2019t appreciate that enough. They just start to speculate, judge or whatever. It\u2019s like, \u2018Hey, guys, enjoy. You have the greatest ever to come play for you, to bring more attention to your sport.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI really support Serena. Always have. Hopefully she\u2019s going to play more,\u201d Djokovic added.<\/p>\n
Williams was given wild card invitations to play both singles and doubles at Wimbledon and it remains to be seen whether she will still play doubles with older sister Venus.<\/p>\n
Williams announced on Wednesday that she tweaked her right knee toward the end of the first set against Joint. She said she still hopes to play doubles but the Williams\u2019 sisters opener against Colombia\u2019s Camila Osorio and Solana Sierra of Argentina was only the remaining first-round match not on the schedule for Friday. There’s is still a possibility they could play Saturday.<\/p>\n
At last year\u2019s U.S. Open,\u00a0Djokovic publicly challenged Serena to return.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen somebody challenges her, she never refuses. So I challenge Serena: Come back on the tour next year,\u201d Djokovic said in 2025.<\/p>\n
Now, Djokovic wants to see Serena play this year\u2019s U.S. Open.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope for the sake of tennis and all of us that we be able to see her more,\u201d Djokovic said. \u201cI assume that U.S. Open is somewhere where she would like to play. Playing in her home Slam would be amazing for her and for everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Djokovic won his second-round match against Stefanos Tsitsipas in straight sets Wednesday night on Centre Court \u2014 24 hours after watching Serena\u2019s match on the same court on TV.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat she\u2019s doing is incredible. Epic,\u201d Djokovic said. \u201cI\u2019ve always been a fan of Serena. I\u2019m sure she wanted and expected to at least win one match or more. Knowing how competitive she is, the mind of a champion that she has, she\u2019s not happy with just showing up on the court. She wants to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lindsey Vonn wasn’t expecting Serena to ‘show all her cards’<\/p>\n
Lindsey Vonn, another 40-plus athlete who recently made a comeback, struggled at times in her first season back on the World Cup skiing circuit after nearly six years of retirement.<\/p>\n
But Vonn was the top World Cup downhiller last season at age 41 until her\u00a0horrific crash at the Milan Cortina Olympics\u00a0in February left her with\u00a0a severely fractured left leg.<\/p>\n
Vonn attended Serena’s comeback in doubles at Queen’s last month and last week\u00a0told The Associated Press\u00a0ahead of Williams’ singles return, \u201cI would expect for her to play well but not show all her cards yet.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONDON \u2014 Novak Djokovic\u00a0knows just what it means to have to live up to lofty expectations after years…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":776850,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-776849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=776849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/776850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=776849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=776849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=776849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}