Taylor Fritz is not surprised that Novak Djokovic will play the SW19. The Serb suffered a right knee injury, shattering his French Open run before the quarterfinals. Upon the news of his return within three weeks, the tennis world worried if he would play the Wimbledon. After Djoker confirmed, Fritz, referring to his own situation, shared why he believes Djokovic “has more time than” him to recover in time.

Tennis Weekly Podcast shared a clip of Taylor Fritz talking about Djokovic’s participation confirmation to Wimbledon less than three weeks after his surgery, which was the postulated recovery period. “you have full strength immediately. You never lost full strength. It’s just about recovering from the actual surgery itself, not any muscular thing. So I’m not surprised. I believe he got into do a surgery, but before, I think his recovery time, I think he has more time than I had, actually,” said Fritz.

Djokovic went through a medial meniscus injury in his right knee during his round of 16 match at Roland Garros. Fritz has gone through the same issue as the Serbinator. He also tore his meniscus on the French Open tour in 2021. Despite his injury, Fritz recovered in time to play at Wimbledon.

Drawing a parallel to his situation with Fritz, he said about Djokovic, “I know for a fact my first match at Wimbledon was exactly 20 days after my surgery. So I played a little less than three weeks after my surgery. Basically three weeks. I think I saw something saying, he’s on, like, I think like 19 or 18 or 20 right about now, so he’s gonna have a whole extra week than I did.”

Not only did Taylor Fritz comment on Djokovic’s ability to recover and return to Wimbledon, but he also extended his support to the former world’s number-one tennis star. With an open dialogue, “I told him what it was like for me, A lot of it comes down to the inflammation and how you react.”

He further added, “It’s more just the inflammation from the surgery. As long as you can get that down and start playing without it puffing up again, you’re actually going to be fine to play,” said Fritz.

The American player shed light on how Djokovic’s return to Wimbledon was not impossible. Although confident he will recover to play well, Fritz is also hopeful that he will manage to beat the Serb if they meet. However, he acknowledges that it will be a fairy tale story.

Taylor Fritz defeating Novak Djokovic might only be a “Fairytale story”  

Taylor Fritz and Novak Djokovic have met each other on the court eight times since their debut clash in the 2019 Monte Carlo Masters. However, the Serb has defeated Fritz each of the nine times they have met. Djokovic was the victor in their 2021 clash as well, where he had a small injury. Fritz was able to fight back and gain momentum in the fifth set. However, a sudden break due to a nearby COVID-19 outbreak gave Djokovic the rest he needed to win.

Since then, Fritz has taken only 1 set from Djokovic. Defeat after defeat, the American is looking to overcome the Serb on the grass. When asked who will be a fairytale win at Wimbledon by the ATP Tour, Fritz said, “Hopefully me! I mean obviously to win.” He further stated, “If I beat Novak for the first time somewhere in there, I think that’s probably fairytale stuff.”

While fortune has not favored the bold American star, he has come close to beating the 24-time grand slam champion. His tennis needs to improve by leaps and bounds if he wants a victory over Djokovic, which will be a tough challenge on the upcoming grass. Can he manage an upset?