Novak Djokovic’s rivals told how to beat him at Wimbledon as five players named

The rest of the field at Wimbledon is set to have a tough time trying to get past Novak Djokovic. The world No 1 is unbeaten at Majors this year and hasn’t lost a match at SW19 since retiring injured in 2017. Andrew Castle told Express Sport that Djokovic’s rivals will have to “whack him off the court” as he named five players who might be able to trouble the Serb.

With Wimbledon still more than a week away, there are few people who would back anyone other than Djokovic for the title. The world No 1 is a seven-time champion at the All England Club and has won the last four editions in a row.

The Serb recently broke the record for the most men’s singles Grand Slam titles at the French Open as he won his 23rd and he will be more motivated than ever to extend his lead to an Open Era record of 24. With Djokovic already a heavy favourite for the title, Andrew Castle has explained what needs to happen for the 36-year-old to lose at Wimbledon.

“I think somebody needs to serve him off-court and catch him by surprise because otherwise I’ve no idea how anybody can walk out on Centre Court and think they’re going to beat Novak over five sets,” he told Express Sport, speaking on behalf of aceodds.com.

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“They’re not going to beat him for conditioning. So they’ve got to whack him off-court.” Castle went on to list the players who were capable of doing just that but didn’t know whether it would last long enough for them to take three of five sets off Djokovic.

He continued: “And looking at the ranking list, you’ve got people like Taylor Fritz, who’s a top 10 player. You know, Tiafoe has the court coverage to worry him for a set or two. Another American.

“You know, somebody like a Taylor Fritz who only lost to Nadal last year, 7-6 in the fifth, in probably the best match of the Championship, which also denied us a semi-final because Nadal couldn’t take his place in that semi-final. God, it was so Nadal-Djokovic last year.”

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The former pro-turned-pundit also threw Daniil Medvedev’s name up as he will return to SW19 after Russians were banned from Wimbledon in 2022. Castle was also interested to see what Holger Rune could do, as the 20-year-old earned his first-ever grass-court wins this week in Queen’s. 

“So, you know, you look at the top 10 of the rankings, people like Daniil Medvedev, you know, back at Wimbledon next year, and you wonder to yourself… can he win on a grass court? Does he have the movement for that? He’s a magnificent mover. But if you give so much space away, Novak’s going to outmanoeuvre you,” Castle added.

“So, Holger Rune, the Danish player, is somebody to watch whether he makes the transition to a grass court and is comfortable doing it. I don’t know. But you see, these guys, I don’t see them as grass-court players. And nowadays there’s only one season which only lasts four or five weeks.”

While he still wasn’t sure that anyone could truly trouble Djokovic, the 59-year-old did throw up another name in Stefanos Tsitsipas. But the Greek star has only made the second week of Wimbledon once, in his second appearance in 2018.

“So I don’t see them as particularly huge threats to him. They can all play magnificent tennis, we know that, but on that particular surface against a man who’s won it seven times? I don’t know,” he said, “I still look at Tsitsipas as somebody that should do great on grass. Listen, let’s be honest, Novak’s to the man to beat. That’s not news.”

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