{"id":729689,"date":"2026-06-27T18:42:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T18:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/729689\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T18:42:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T18:42:10","slug":"inspirational-and-epic-djokovic-inspired-by-serena-williams-as-he-targets-wimbledon-history-wimbledon-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/729689\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Inspirational and epic\u2019: Djokovic inspired by Serena Williams as he targets Wimbledon history | Wimbledon 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a seven-time champion, Novak Djokovic is never going to be lacking in motivation when it comes to Wimbledon. But as he continued his preparations for this year\u2019s event, the 39-year-old said the return of 44-year-old Serena Williams<\/a> has put an extra spring in his step.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat she\u2019s doing is inspirational and it\u2019s epic,\u201d said Djokovic, who will join Roger Federer on eight titles if he wins this year. \u201cThat\u2019s what I told her. I always admired her career, her journey, her story. Of course, Venus, as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor her to come back after years of being absent from the tour, two children later, and to give so much effort, not just for her own satisfaction or coming back on the tour, but also to give all of us a pleasure of seeing her back on the court \u2013 in singles as well as doubles \u2013 is remarkable. I told her that whatever happens, what she\u2019s doing is truly inspirational for me personally, I\u2019m sure for millions around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see her in the gym more than I have, I think, seen her when she was at her prime. It tells me that she really wants this to work out the best way possible. It\u2019s admirable, honestly, the effort she\u2019s putting in. Of course, all eyes are on her comeback. I just hope that she will enjoy because she really deserves. She created something historical, legendary in her career. She deserves every applause she\u2019s going to get.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such is Djokovic\u2019s pedigree that even in his 40th year, he goes into Wimbledon as second favourite, behind the defending champion, Jannik Sinner. That is despite the fact he has played just three events and a total of seven matches since reaching the final at the Australian Open<\/a> in January.<\/p>\n

A shoulder injury caused him to miss the clay-court season until Roland Garros, where he reached the third round before losing in five sets to Jo\u00e3o Fonseca<\/a>, the talented young Brazilian many are tipping for the very top.<\/p>\n

\u201cRoland Garros was physically very draining, demanding,\u201d he said. \u201cThree matches, all of them went almost four hours. But I\u2019m proud of the effort. I lost in the third round against a 20 years-younger opponent, fought until the end in five sets, almost four and whatever hours that we played. Maybe not the result I was looking for, but the effort was there.<\/p>\n

Novak Djokovic and world No 1 Jannik Sinner warm-up for Wimbledon under the roof of No 1 Court. Photograph: Adam Davy\/PA<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyway, I was planning to peak at Wimbledon<\/a>. I knew not having any matches, official matches on the tour, going pretty much straight into Roland Garros, was going to be quite difficult. Maybe too big of a challenge for me at the moment. That\u2019s what happened. But I knew that\u2019s going to give me a bit more time to get myself prepared for Wimbledon. So hopefully I\u2019ll have a good tournament here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Djokovic begins his campaign on Monday against Wu Yibing of China, who is back inside the world\u2019s top 100 after a couple of years struggling with injuries. In the same half as Sinner, Djokovic may have to get past the Italian if he\u2019s to win again, but he showed in Melbourne that when his body holds up, he is more than capable.<\/p>\n

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The carrot of a possible 25th grand slam title keeps Djokovic working hard but on grass, less has often been more, at least in terms of match practice. Since 2010, he has played a warm-up event on only three occasions, preferring the odd exhibition match \u2013 as he did this week at Hurlingham \u2013 and extended time on the practice courts at the All England Club instead.<\/p>\n

It is a tried and proven method for success for Djokovic and he seems in a much more contented space than he was when he arrived in Paris, a little unsure of his physical state.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m better prepared here than I was for Roland Garros,\u201d he said. \u201cObviously playing on grass, comparing to clay, you don\u2019t need to exert as much physical effort. So that\u2019s better for me. I always loved playing on grass. I have a very good history in Wimbledon. That gives me, of course, a higher dose of confidence coming into the tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As a seven-time champion, Novak Djokovic is never going to be lacking in motivation when it comes to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":729690,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,428],"class_list":["post-729689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=729689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/729690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=729689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=729689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=729689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}