{"id":59022,"date":"2025-06-28T04:08:34","date_gmt":"2025-06-28T04:08:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=59022"},"modified":"2025-06-28T04:08:44","modified_gmt":"2025-06-28T04:08:44","slug":"novak-djokovic-admits-wimbledon-guilt-after-strange-carlos-alcaraz-session","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=59022","title":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic admits Wimbledon guilt after ‘strange’ Carlos Alcaraz session"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\"Novak<\/picture>\n

Novak Djokovic hit with Carlos Alcaraz on Wimbledon’s Centre Court (Image: Getty)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Novak Djokovic started his grass season with a 7-6 6-4 defeat to Karen Khachanov at the Giorgio Armani Tennis Classic on Friday – his only match on the surface before starting his Wimbledon campaign. The world No. 6 has still been testing himself at the All England Club, enjoying a Centre Court training session with Carlos Alcaraz on Thursday.<\/p>\n

But Djokovic has confessed that he \u201cfelt bad\u201d for breaking in the pristine grass court at SW19 during his practice set with Alcaraz, which finished at 5-5 before their allotted time was over.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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After losing his exhibition match at Hurlingham, Djokovic opened up on his practice with Alcaraz, a rematch of the 2023 and 2024 Wimbledon finals. Until a few years ago, players were never allowed to hit on Centre Court before the tournament got underway, but the tradition has since changed so the grass isn\u2019t too slippery on day one.<\/p>\n

However, Djokovic is still adjusting to the decision and feels guilty for \u201cruining\u201d the grass ahead of the Championships fortnight.<\/p>\n

Speaking after his loss at the Giorgio Armani Tennis Classic, he said: \u201cOf course, yesterday obviously I was practising with Carlos, and obviously the tradition changed in the last few years that you get to hit a few balls on Centre Court.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought that tradition will never change, but I guess everything is moving forward. Obviously it\u2019s a huge privilege to be on virgin fresh grass before the tournament starts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt did feel a bit strange to be honest, and I almost felt a bit bad for ruining the grass and sliding on it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n\"Novak<\/picture>\n

Novak Djokovic lost an exhibition match at the Giorgio Armani Tennis Classic (Image: Getty)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It\u2019s no surprise Djokovic felt guilty. He grew up watching Wimbledon on TV as a child and dreamt of lifting the trophy. Now he has seven Wimbledon titles. Even though it\u2019s been almost two years since he won his last Major, he\u2019s as motivated as ever to lift his eighth at SW19.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of the most special tennis courts we have in the world. The Wimbledon Centre Court is like a cradle, it\u2019s something sacred for us,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just inspires you to come out and of course, enjoy the moment and everything you experience and give your best. I cannot find a more motivating tournament in my life than Wimbledon so that\u2019s exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aside from his exhibition appearance in Hurlingham, Djokovic has not played a match since his French Open semi-final defeat to Jannik Sinner earlier this month. But he\u2019s been plenty busy – and he was impressed by Sinner and Alcaraz’s epic championship match in Paris.<\/p>\n

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He added: \u201cWhat am I up to? I don\u2019t know how to answer that question to be honest, but there\u2019s been a lot happening always off the court and at home, it\u2019s always alive with two kids.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s plenty of things happening in my private life and I try to balance it out with professional life. I still thrive to be on the courts, to be on the tour, find enjoyment in competition, and obviously Wimbledon has always been a dream childhood tournament for me and many others.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a huge honour to be able to participate in another Wimbledon and still going with youngsters that are are coming up, new generation of players, they are exciting, they are bringing a lot of energy on the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw the French Open final that was definitely one of the best matches that we\u2019ve seen in decades, it\u2019s great, tennis is in good hands, hopefully we can have a good Wimbledon for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Novak Djokovic is hoping to win his eighth Wimbledon title this summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59023,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tennis"],"yoast_head":"\nNovak Djokovic admits Wimbledon guilt after 'strange' Carlos Alcaraz session - 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=59022\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Novak Djokovic admits Wimbledon guilt after 'strange' Carlos Alcaraz session - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Novak Djokovic is hoping to win his eighth Wimbledon title this summer.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=59022\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-28T04:08:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-28T04:08:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/1-106.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1350\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=59022\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=59022\",\"name\":\"Novak Djokovic admits Wimbledon guilt after 'strange' Carlos Alcaraz session - 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