By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Will Novak Djokovic join this year’s Wimbledon tennis tournament?
Despite him not confirming his participation in the grandest grass surface Grand Slam event of the sport, the tournament organizers still included him in the main draw, scheduling him for a first-round encounter against Czech star Vit Kopriva on July 2, 2024.
During the past days at the All England Club, Djokovic kept putting his playing status as “uncertain” due to a knee operation he underwent to fix his torn meniscus.
However, Djokovic teased his fans with a late entry to the Wimbledon stage after arriving in the United Kingdom to kick off his practice sessions.
Djokovic wore a compression knee sleeve while training with his camp but didn’t give any specific update if he will suit up in the main draw.
“I didn’t come here to play a few rounds. You can never really know 100 percent once you start a tournament what’s going to happen after the eventual first match or second match,” Djokovic said in an interview with BBC.
It was during the fourth round of the French Open when Djokovic injured his right knee when he went up against Francisco Cerundolo
Although Djokovic pulled off the win, he failed to advance to the next round of the Roland Garros when he decided to withdraw from the tournament.
Aside from Djokovic, former world no. 1 ranked male tennis player Andy Murray was also placed in the tournament seedings despite undergoing an operation several months ago.
On June 22, 2024, Murray had to address a problem in his spinal cord, thus, resulting in a procedure to remove a spinal cyst.
If Murray will be able to confirm his participation, he will then be facing Tomas Machac of the Czech Republic on July 2, 2024, in the first round of the Wimbledon.
