The Serb won his 21st Grand Slam title on Sunday, beating Nick Kyrgios in the final to win another Wimbledon trophy, the seventh time he has done so and the fourth in a consecutive SW19.
However, as it stands, Djokovic’s immediate future is unclear. As a result of his vaccination position against Covid-19, his current participation in the upcoming Grand Slams in the US and Australia has been questioned.
“I just needed time to withstand the storm”
Djokovic has endured a couple of difficult months off the court and this leaked into his game.
In January, Djokovic was finally deported from Australia after a long saga, including a stoppage time, which prevented him from participating in the Australian Open due to his refusal to be vaccinated against Covid. -19.
Under Australian law, Djokovic could be expelled from the country for three years due to the circumstances surrounding his deportation, although Home Secretary Karen Andrews did not rule out an exemption. “Any application will be reviewed on its merits,” he said in January.
While he has returned to slow but safe action, the former world number 1 said he had to “face a storm” during that time.
“The first few months of this year have affected me,” he said after his win at Wimbledon. “Mentally and emotionally, I wasn’t in a good place. I felt a lot of pressure.
“This caused turbulence inside me. I just needed time to weather the storm. At one point, I realized that I would only need time, and that’s it, time for me to regroup, to put myself in an optimal state of balance in the off – track.
Gorok Ivanisevic, Djokovic’s coach and 2001 Wimbledon winner, praised the 21-time Grand Slam winner’s ability to return from a “tough year”.
“That was very important what happened to him. We all expected him after a couple of weeks: ‘Okay, forget about Australia, let’s practice again. It’s not happening like that,'” he said. Ivanisevic.
“He spent a lot of time, Monte-Carlo, Belgrade, then he started playing better, Madrid, Rome. He even played well in Paris, but Rafa (Nadal) was the best player that night.
“For some people, they don’t recover. They’ll never play tennis. That was a big shock. It was a shock to me, and I was there. I was free. Imagine for him.
“Amazing how he recovered and how he overcame it. For me it’s really heroic because it wasn’t easy to digest everything and play tennis again. Then you’re thinking, ‘Why do you have to play tennis?’ “
Despite his return to action in selected tournaments, his vaccination position against Covid-19 has restricted his participation in others.
Tournaments have been missed in the United States this year, such as the Indian Wells or the Miami Open, because any non-US citizen must be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 in order to receive a visa. and enter the country.
And, as it stands, he would not be allowed to play in the U.S. Open, which will begin Aug. 29, as he has not been vaccinated.
Djokovic did not seem particularly optimistic about competing at Flushing Meadows given the current state of affairs, although he said he would “love” to play there.
“I’m not vaccinated and I’m not planning on getting vaccinated, so the only good news I can have is that they take out the mandatory green vaccination card or as you say to enter the United States or the exemption,” he said.
“I don’t think the exemption is realistically possible. If that’s a possibility, I don’t know what the exemption would be about. I don’t know. I don’t have many answers there. I think it’s just whether they or not. Eliminate this in time because get to the US “.
In fact, due to current Australian immigration laws, the 35-year-old would also not be allowed to play in the 2023 Australian Open.
This could mean that Djokovic, one of the greatest who has ever graced the sport of tennis, would take to the court in a Grand Slam in May 2023 at next year’s French Open.
He remains a Grand Slam title behind the historic record of Christmas 21 and, giving a glimpse of what he sees in his future, prioritizing the most important events will be his main goal.
“To be honest, I doubt I’ll go after points,” he explained. “As my agent understands today, winning a Grand Slam would qualify you for the World Tour Finals unless you were out of the top 20, which I don’t know. With the points I’ve accumulated so far, I guess I’ll get into the top 20.
“I guess I have a good chance of being in the finals already. I won’t charge for having to go play tournaments and get points.
“I really don’t feel any pressure or need to play a certain schedule. And things have changed in the last year, year and a half for me. I got that historic number 1, weeks for number 1, that I worked for. all my life Now that this is done and bred, I really prioritize slams and big tournaments and where I want to play, where I feel good.
He added: “It could be the Laver Cup, the Davis Cup is coming too. I love playing with my country. I’ll try to be a part of that. The next thing you know is that the season is over, right? These are the big, let’s go. for example, tournaments that I have in my head right now. “