The Djokovic conundrum

What is it that ails Novak Djokovic? Yes, he looks to have recovered well enough from his elbow injury but he is still not … well, he is still not Novak. Not the real Novak. Not yet, at least.

Flashes of the old Novak

Injury is an occupational hazard for any athlete and there is not a man in the locker room who does not have some minor ache or pain as he prepares for every match. Long-term injury is another matter entirely, though.

As you lie on the physio’s bench, the rest of the world is moving on and over the horizon. To come back after a six-month lay-off is not just a case of picking up where you left off; it involves an awful lot of catch up before you can even think of getting back into the old routines.

There were moments during the clay court season when Djokovic appeared to have caught up and was ready to kick on. There were flashes of the old Novak but as soon as they appeared, they fizzled out again.

When he got to Roland Garros he clearly thought he had a chance to make progress and as he moved into the quarterfinals, he did appear to be making progress. But then he ran into Marco Cecchinato and that was the end of that. Cecchinato was inspired and unflustered. Djokovic was neither and it was impossible to work out why.

A glimpse of his inner turmoil

When the other greats have come back from extended breaks, they may have looked a bit ring rusty at first, they may have still been struggling to get back to full fitness, but they have come back with that old hunger and desire. Roger Federer returned from six months off to let his knee heal and promptly won the Australian Open and Wimbledon last year. Rafa Nadal suffered an injury plagued 2016 and returned to win the French and US Opens last summer.

Djokovic basically has not been the same since he won at Roland Garros two years ago.

To look at Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka now as they both tiptoe back from surgery to repair serious hip and knee injuries, their determination to get back to their best and willingness to suffer defeat after defeat along the journey is obvious. The fact that it will be a long and frustrating process is just part of the job – the end result will make it all worthwhile. And yet Djokovic sometimes looks as if he is not sure what he wants that end result to be.

He looked safe enough in his first round at Wimbledon, coming through in three untroubled sets, but he was playing Tennys Sandgren and even Djokovic admitted that Sandgren was not at his best. But it is when he was asked what it took to become the world No.1 and what is required to stay there that Djokovic gave the world a glimpse of his inner turmoil.

"A lot of things has come together"

“First of all, you have to dream it, then live it, believe in it,” he said. “You have to really be able to make that decision to devote, if not all, then most of your daily life to that. Tennis is an individual sport, it obviously makes it that much tougher to actually get to the biggest titles because you're by yourself, so you have to take the, so to say, credit and the blame for winning or losing.

“But, you know, a lot of things have to come together. It all starts and ends with your inner strength and inner power, your inner belief, how much you are really ready to kind of sacrifice and invest in that.”

Maybe after 14 years on the road, 14 years of putting his reputation on the line every time he steps on court, 14 years of winning all there is to win, maybe after all of that he knows exactly what it is that ails him. What he does not know is how much more he is willing to sacrifice and invest to do it all over again.