{"id":58743,"date":"2025-06-27T03:07:24","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T03:07:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=58743"},"modified":"2025-06-27T03:07:24","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T03:07:24","slug":"happy-novak-djokovic-gives-verdict-on-wimbledon-conditions-after-centre-court-practice-set-against-carlos-alcaraz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=58743","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Happy\u2019 Novak Djokovic gives verdict on Wimbledon conditions after Centre Court practice set against Carlos Alcaraz"},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<header><\/header>\n<section>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.ps-aws.com\/c?url=https%3A%2F%2Fd2me2qg8dfiw8u.cloudfront.net%2Fcontent%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F07%2F15165028%2FNovak-Djokovic-and-Carlos-Alcaraz-handshake-Wimbledon-2024.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 1080px) 1320px, 100vw\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.ps-aws.com\/c?url=https%3A%2F%2Fd2me2qg8dfiw8u.cloudfront.net%2Fcontent%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F07%2F15165028%2FNovak-Djokovic-and-Carlos-Alcaraz-handshake-Wimbledon-2024.jpg 1320w, https:\/\/images.ps-aws.com\/c?url=https%3A%2F%2Fd2me2qg8dfiw8u.cloudfront.net%2Fcontent%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F07%2F15165028%2FNovak-Djokovic-and-Carlos-Alcaraz-handshake-Wimbledon-2024-750x422.jpg 750w, \" alt=\"Novak Djokovic gives high praise to 'historic' Carlos Alcaraz French Open win\" width=\"1024\" height=\"600\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>Noval Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz after the 2024 Wimbledon final<\/p>\n<p>Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz shared the first Wimbledon Centre Court practice set of this year\u2019s championships, with the Serb sharing his thoughts afterwards of both the conditions and the Roland-Garros men\u2019s final.<\/p>\n<p>The line-up of the last two Wimbledon finals was on show once again during the tournament\u2019s first Centre Court practice set, with Djokovic and Alcaraz winning five games each.<\/p>\n<p>Djokovic, who was been defeated in both of those finals, was, reportedly, in very impressive form, looking happy and moving well on the grass.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs happy as one can be,\u201d the Serb responded, when asked how he was feeling to be back at SW19 for another year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou feel bad playing on it [Centre Court]. It is so perfect. It looks amazing. It is a real privilege.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCarlos Alcaraz as the defending champion gets the right, I am the sparring partner. I am happy he chose me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWimbledon balls are slower than they used to be. It makes it extremely difficult to get past guys like Carlos Alcaraz when they try to get to the net.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The 24-time Grand Slam champion also remarked upon the French Open final between Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, which was the longest showpiece match in the tournament\u2019s history.<\/p>\n<p>In the end, it was the Spaniard who prevailed in a five-set epic, saving three championship points to defend his Parisian title.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is a different surface, a different style of play but what they produced in the final in Paris was amazing,\u201d commended Djokovic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo be honest, I was in my country. My wife wanted to watch the final but I didn\u2019t want to watch it. The first part of the match we went outside for lunch.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe came back and I ended up watching it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIncredible, incredible match. Huge credit to both of them. It was one of the most historic matches we have ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Latest ATP News<\/h3>\n<p>Jimmy Connors warns Jannik Sinner about something that he \u2018must not do\u2019 at Wimbledon<\/p>\n<p>How to build a winning record against Carlos Alcaraz by one of the few men to do it<\/p>\n<p>Djokovic will be seeking a record-equalling eighth Wimbledon title, which would put him one above Pete Sampras and equal with Roger Federer.<\/p>\n<p>At 38, and after his recent French Open comments, the tennis legend will know that time is running out if he wants to get his hands on yet another record.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf this was the farewell match at Roland Garros for me in my career, it was a wonderful one in terms of the atmosphere and what I got from the crowd,\u201d admitted the Serb, after his loss to Sinner in Paris.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know really what tomorrow brings in a way at this point in my career. You know, I\u2019m going to keep on keeping on, yes?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cObviously Wimbledon is next, which is my childhood favourite tournament. I\u2019m going to do everything possible to get myself ready.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI guess my best chances maybe are Wimbledon, you know, to win another slam \u2013 or a faster hard court, maybe Australia or something like that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI said it could have been my last match. I didn\u2019t say it was. So I don\u2019t know right now \u2013 12 months at this point in my career is quite a long time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDo I wish to play more? Yes, I do. But will I be able to play in 12 months\u2019 time here again? I don\u2019t know. I don\u2019t know. So, yeah, I mean, that\u2019s all I can say for the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz shared the first Wimbledon Centre Court practice set off 2025, with the Serb sharing his thoughts afterwards of both the conditions and the Roland-Garros men\u2019s final.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tennis"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\u2018Happy\u2019 Novak Djokovic gives verdict on Wimbledon conditions after Centre Court practice set against Carlos Alcaraz - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=58743\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Happy\u2019 Novak Djokovic gives verdict on Wimbledon conditions after Centre Court practice set against Carlos Alcaraz - 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