Wimbledon watch: Novak Djokovic makes fast return from surgery as he aims for eigth title
Wimbledon is underway and as the bookies pin world number one Jannik Sinner as the favourite, defending champion Carlos Alcaraz will have something to say on the matter. Here’s a look ahead to the summer of tennis as more players look to make their name.
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00:00Away from the fact that it's a major on the tennis calendar for these players, it's a
00:06fantastic bit of British culture as well. How important is Wimbledon to London, to the
00:14surroundings and the city, the nation as well? It sort of gets everyone together during these
00:21summer months and it celebrates a fantastic historic occasion at one of the best locations
00:28for tennis in the world.
00:29Wimbledon is sort of the epitome of British tradition and culture, isn't it? I often think.
00:37It's just a renowned event that we all look forward to every summer. It is peak British
00:42summer. I think it's summarised by Wimbledon, to be honest. Nice refreshing juices, strawberries
00:49and cream, all that sitting on Henman Hill.
00:53And obviously going into Wimbledon, Al-Kharaz aiming to defend his title. Do you think he
00:59can go back to back on the grass courts?
01:02I think he definitely can. I mean, he did it last year and he wasn't even really known
01:06or considered to be a grass court player. He won Queens, he won Wimbledon, beating Djokovic
01:11in the final. So you have to say that he's going to be riding on that wave of confidence.
01:18So I think it's a case of who's going to stop Al-Kharaz.
01:21World number one, Yannick Sinner. I mean, obviously he's rised to world number one.
01:25It's been very interesting. So much consistency and confidence. He's sort of gone under the
01:31radar a bit. How impressed with him have you been?
01:35I mean, he's been amazing since the Davis Cup in November last year, beating Djokovic
01:42after Djokovic had match points. I think that's really given him confidence. These guys have
01:46to play as individuals. And I think having that team around you has kind of boosted Sinner
01:51in a different kind of way. He was always the slow and steady one anyway. He was improving
01:56bit by bit by bit. So he doesn't have those wild swings of bad form. He always plays really,
02:03really well.
02:04And of course, Novak Djokovic making an appearance after much thought, you know, recovering from
02:10his knee surgery. He's, you know, spoken and said he absolutely loves Wimbledon and that's
02:15why he's rushed back. Is it possible that he bounces back and wins it for an eighth
02:21time?
02:22We've seen sort of dips in motivation from Novak. It's not easy to maintain that top,
02:27top level for so many years. And I do feel that whenever Rafa Nadal is no longer sort
02:33of in the picture, I don't, not intentionally, but I think for sometimes I think Novak needs
02:39that competition with his great rivals and that's always spurred him on. So when he was,
02:44you know, beating them quite easily, he also had a dip then as well. He still wants to
02:49challenge for the slams and the big titles, but you can't count him out. So I think it's
02:54really interesting to see, you know, how he comes back and then competes against them,
02:58Sinner and Alkaraz.