Djokovic confident he’ll be fit for third round after muscle ‘twitch’ scare
Novak Djokovic is confident he will be ready for his third-round clash with Kyle Edmund after suffering an injury scare in his win over Horacio Zeballos.
Three-time Wimbledon champion Djokovic will face the Briton tomorrow and expects to shrug off a minor muscle problem.
The 31-year-old swept past Argentina’s Zeballos 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 in one hour 31 minutes on Court Two, then called his muscle twinge “nothing major”. Asked if he had any doubts about being fit for the third round, Djokovic said: “No. I’ve been doing checkups now, it seems like nothing major.
“It was a bad move during the point. It affected my knee a little bit.
“I felt it all the way to the end of the match basically, the last couple of games.
“Tomorrow I’ll see on the practice session how it feels. Hopefully it’s going to be fine.
“It’s most likely a twitch, you know, in the muscle or something like this that has affected the knee a little bit. Hopefully it’s nothing that will concern me, so to say, that I’ll be able to perform.”
Djokovic has not won a title in more than a year now, following protracted elbow troubles.
The Serbian had minor elbow surgery after the Australian Open in January, and has since been edging back towards full fitness and form.
The Monte Carlo resident has impressed in the grasscourt campaign so far, reaching the final at Queen’s Club
only to lose out to Marin Cilic. However, Djokovic has not won a grand slam title since the 2016 French Open and insisted he could not be considered a Wimbledon contender on the basis of his run at Queen’s.
Yesterday, he stepped out on Court Two for the first time in almost a decade as organisers switched up those featuring in the main arenas.
The 12-time major champion relished the experience, he said, especially a longer walk to and from court, where he could mingle with fans.
Asked how he felt about not appearing on Centre Court or Court One, Djokovic said: “It doesn’t bother me. I was enjoying it.
“I’ve never played on this new Court Two. I played on the old Court Two, and that’s Court Three right now, but that was a long time ago.
“It was interesting, I think what was different was the walk to the court.
“Obviously the crowd, with everybody cheering you on, wishing you luck, and then after the match congratulating you. That was quite special, quite different. I haven’t experienced that in a while at Wimbledon.”