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 his fourth at SW19 in a row.
As it stands, however, Djokovic’s near future remains unclear. Due to his anti-Covid-19 vaccination stance, his current participation in upcoming grand slams in the US and Australia has been called into question.
‘I just needed time to weather the storm’
Djokovic has had a difficult few months and that seeped into his game.
In January, Djokovic was finally deported from Australia after a protracted saga, including time in detention, which prevented his participation in the Australian Open due to his refusal to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
While he has slowly but surely returned to action, the former world No. 1 said he “had to weather a storm” during that time.
“The first months of this year have touched me,” he said after his win at Wimbledon. “Mentally and emotionally I was not in a good place. I felt so much pressure.
“That created turbulence in me. I just needed time to weather the storm. At some point I realized it’s just going to take time, and that’s it, time for me to regroup, to be in an optimally balanced state to get on the field, out of court.”
Goran Ivanisevic, Djokovic’s coach and 2001 Wimbledon winner, praised the 21-time grand slam winner’s ability to bounce back from a ‘tough year’.
“This was something huge that happened to him. We all expected him after a few weeks: ‘Okay, forget Australia, let’s go back and practice. It’s not like that,'” said Ivanisevic.
“It took a long time, Monte-Carlo, Belgrade, then he started to play better, Madrid, Rome. Even he played well in Paris, but Rafa (Nadal) was a better player that night.
“For some people they don’t recover. They will never play tennis. This was a big shock. Was a shock for me, and I was there. I was free. Imagine him.
“It’s unbelievable how he recovered and how he got through that. It’s really heroic for me because it wasn’t easy to digest everything and come back to play tennis. Then you think, ‘Why (must) you play tennis?’ “
Despite his return to action in select tournaments, his vaccination policy against Covid-19 has limited his participation in others.
He has missed tournaments in the US this year, such as Indian Wells or the Miami Open, as every non-US citizen must be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 in order to get a visa and enter the country.
And as it stands, he should not be allowed to play in the US Open – which starts on August 29 – because he has not been vaccinated.
Djokovic didn’t sound particularly optimistic about joining Flushing Meadows given the current state of play, although he did say he would “love to play there”.
“I have not been vaccinated and I do not intend to get vaccinated, so the only good news I can have is that they are removing the mandatory green vaccination card or whatever you call it to enter the United States or exemption,” he said.
“I don’t think exemption is realistically possible. If it is possible I don’t know what exemption would be about. I don’t know. I don’t have many answers there. I think it’s just or they remove this in time so I to the US.”
Due to current Australian immigration laws, the 35-year-old would not even be allowed to play in the 2023 Australian Open.
That could mean Djokovic – one of tennis’s greatest ever – will go to court in a grand slam in May 2023 at next year’s French Open.
He remains one grand slam title behind Nadal’s record 21 and, to give some insight into what he sees in his future, prioritizing the biggest events will be his primary focus.
“To be honest, I doubt I’ll be chasing points,” he explained. “As I understood from my agent today, winning a grand slam would qualify you for the World Tour Finals unless you finish in the top 20, which I don’t know. With the points accumulated so far, I think I will make the top 20.
“I think I have a good chance of being in the finals already. I will not burden myself to really play tournaments and get points.
“I don’t really feel any pressure or need to play any particular schedule. And things have changed in the past year, a year and a half for me. I hit that historic number 1, weeks before number 1, which I’ve been working on now that’s done and dusted, 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 for my country. I’m going to try to be a part of that. Before you know it, the season will be over , right? Those are the big, let’s say tournaments that I have in my head right now.”