Former WTA Star Sheds Light on Why Novak Djokovic Is Very Successful at Wimbledon

Novak Djokovic holds a mind-blowing 97-12 win-loss record at the Wimbledon Championship.

Former WTA Star Sheds Light on Why Novak Djokovic Is Very Successful at Wimbledon

Novak Djokovic (X/Wimbledon)

Novak Djokovic is widely regarded as one of the greatest grass-court players of all time. The Serbian has lifted the Wimbledon Championship seven times, second only to Roger Federer, who has won eight. Ahead of this year’s edition of Wimbledon, former WTA star Andrea Petkovic has revealed why the former World No.1 is so successful on grass.

Djokovic’s most recent triumph at the Wimbledon Championship came in 2022. Since then, he has reached the 2023 and 2024 finals, losing on both occasions to Carlos Alcaraz. The 38-year-old has also come quite close to winning his 25th Grand Slam on two occasions this year. First at the Australian Open, where he reached the semi-finals, before retiring against Alexander Zverev.

At the French Open, he reached the semi-finals but fell to a straight-sets defeat against Jannik Sinner. With Djokovic having such success on hard courts and clay in Grand Slams, it’s expected that he will not have much difficulty at Wimbledon, having been a dominant player at the tournament.

Also, Djokovic has lost just once in his last ten matches. During the brilliant run of form, he claimed his 100th career title at the Geneva Open, making him the third man in the history of the ATP to achieve the feat. In addition, the Serbian legend holds a standout 97-12 career record at SW19.

In her Substack, Petkovic pointed out how Djokovic’s style of play allowed him to dominate on all three surfaces but gives him a better competitive edge on grass over hard and clay courts. The former World No.1 revealed that how Djokovic bends his knees during play enables him to move freely on all surfaces:

That’s why Novak Djokovic is one of the best when it comes to lawn tennis. On first glance, his game shouldn’t work as well but he moves on grass like he does on any other surface and that gives him the advantage over players like me who either slip every time the try to sprint or break a hip every time they try to change directions.

Djokovic didn’t compete in any warm-up tournament ahead of the Wimbledon Championship, which is not new to him. He did so last year and went on to reach the final. However, the former World No.1 will compete in the usual Hurlingham exhibition, the Giorgio Armani Tennis Classic in London.

Andrea Petkovic criticized the WTA for heavily editing her interview with Berlin Open runners-up

Andrea Petkovic has slammed the WTA for heavily editing her interview with Chinese star Xinyu Wang at the Berlin Tennis Open. The former player was given a role at the WTA 500 tournament to interview players on the court after their win. One of them was Wang, who was absolutely at her best in the tournament, beating World No.2 Coco Gauff in the second round.

Andrea Petkovic
Andrea Petkovic (via X/Tennis World Italia)

After Wang put on a great showing against Liudmila Samsonova in the semi-final to reach the final of the tournament. It was after the win that Petkovic interviewed the Chinese player on the court as Wang was excited to reach her first WTA 500 tournament final. However, Petkovic revealed in her Substack that it was heavily edited to sound like every other Tennis player:

In my function as Director of Excitement last week I conducted some of the on-court interviews with players. I had the pleasure to interview Wang Xin Yu after her semifinal win. She was hilarious, witty, smart. She had better jokes up her sleeve than most of the comedians on Netflix right now. The WTA, however, posted an edited clip of her answers on their social media that made her sound like EVERY. OTHER. TENNIS. PLAYER. OUT. THERE.

Wang went on to lose the final to former Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova in straight sets. Nonetheless, the Chinese star impressed with her exceptional tennis on the court. She will surely be among the players to watch out for at the Wimbledon Championship.

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