Given his remarkable feats to this point the amount of surprise when Novak Djokovic showed himself rigorously working out on his surgically repaired knee came as a shock.
For Djokovic is the embodiment of warrior in a sport where few can say they match his sheer determination and durability, playing through adversity unless he cannot walk out.
Twenty six days on from surgery, Djokovic is walking out on Centre Court today to kick-start his latest road to glory at Wimbledon, a place he has won seven times before.
‘The knee has responded very well to all of that so far, which, of course then, is a great sign for my participation in Wimbledon. That’s why I decided to be in the draw,’ Djokovic, the second seed, told reporters on Saturday.
‘I’m confident about the health of my knee and just general physical state is really good.’
Novak Djokovic has managed to prove his fitness in time to appear on Centre Court today
Having had surgery on his knee less than a month ago, Djokovic has defied all expectations
He has a number of quirky beliefs, including drinking water from a pyramid in Bosnia
He also has a super-clean diet and believes in the powers of positive affirmations to his food
The real question on everybody’s lips was, how has he pulled the rabbit out of the hat this time?
On June 3, 2024, Djokovic took on Francisco Serundolo in the last-16 of the French Open, and although after four hours and 39 minutes of an epic battle in what was his longest match at the Paris Slam, he managed to win.
But he suffered a serious injury, a disaster for Djokovic and the tournament. His knee was damaged and despite his hatred for surgery, he knew it was the only option.
A day later he announced he was withdrawing from the tournament and on June 5 he went under the knife to fix the meniscus of his right knee, putting his place at Wimbledon under real threat.
‘Yeah, what people need to understand is not all knee surgeries are the same at all,’ USA star Taylor Fritz said recently at Eastbourne.
‘I saw some stuff with people talking about all the issues Federer had with his knee surgeries and how he’s not coming back in a couple of weeks.
‘I’m like, :Yeah, because it’s different.’ This is probably, in terms of surgeries you have to get and then try to come back as quick as possible, one of the best ones you can get because it’s not a meniscus repair.
‘When you tear your meniscus. You don’t actually need your full meniscus to just be fine. Like you can just get the part that you tear snipped out and it’s more of a discomfort thing.
‘That’s why he tore his but he was still able to play because wherever his tore wouldn’t have been blocking anything up . When I tore mine I actually couldn’t walk because it was blocking something but the actual procedure of removing it, it’s all the same and all the recovery really entails is just the swelling of the actual incision, it’s just recovering from that.
Djokovic underwent a rigorous rehab in order to be ready to fight for an eighth Wimbledon
He claims his knee has responded well to his rehab, along with his daily meditation sessions
‘Strength-wise you have full strength immediately, it’s just about recovering from the actual surgery itself, not any muscular things. So I’m not surprised I believe he got in to do his surgery before I did – I think he has more recovery time than I had.
‘I know for a fact my first match at Wimbledon was exactly 20 days after my surgery so I played a little less than three weeks after my surgery. So he’s going to have a whole extra week than I did. So it’s definitely not surprising at all that he’s able to like lightly hit up the middle right now.’
Unorthodox is the word that befits Djokovic and his various beliefs, from pyramid water to a temple that keeps him calm, or the Bosnian mountain he abides by.
Marginal gains is what Djokovic is all about and this latest rehabilitation will have been littered with quirky ways to return to fitness.
Previously he has shown that he places trust in the healing power of trampolines, the use of meditation to fight off injury, the belief that you can make dirty water clean again with nothing but the strength of your emotions. The list goes on and on.
There was the time Djokovic set an alarm on his phone so he would know – to the exact minute – when a year had passed since he last ate a piece of chocolate.
Or the time he listened over and over and over to The Beatles and a Serbian rock band called Električni Orgazam to perfect the rhythm of his famed return motion.
Djokovic’s online chats with Chevrin Jafarieh (bottom) became notorious in the pandemic
He has been seen working out alongside British star Emma Raducanu (left) during this week
Or there is the faith he places in the healing power of ‘pyramid water’.
In a piece on the official Wimbledon website they detail the ‘benefits of pyramid water’.
‘Novak really appreciates the water from the pyramids. He can see it brings him benefits,’ Sam Osmanagic, who announced to the world in 2005 that he had discovered the pyramids, said.
‘When Novak comes here, he always gets supplies of the water.’
Djokovic swears by it and he has not been quiet about his pilgrimages to the small city of Visoko in Bosnia, in order to ‘charge up on the cosmic energy being emitted by the local ancient pyramids’.
‘There is truly a miraculous energy here,’ Djokovic said in 2018. ‘If there is a paradise on Earth, then it’s here.’
Traditional medicine and routine practices of rehab do not appeal to Djokovic; his psyche and mindset has long been on a different level.
Food is a key area for him. Specifically, the ‘positive energy’ that food can distribute.
Yoga and meditation has become a key part of Djokovic’s routine in a bid to remain on top
Djokovic (pictured with his son, Stefan) is a Christian and part of the Serbian Orthodox Church
Much is expected of Djokovic with the draw opening up for him to win an eighth singles title
In his book ‘Serve to Win: The 14-Day Gluten-free Plan for Physical and Mental Excellence’, the Serbian superstar incredibly detailed how he believes that conversation is influential on the food we eat.
In Djokovic’s mind, negative conversation could well be harmful to the food, stripping it of its nutrients as well as its taste.
During his rehabilitation now, as her has done for many years, Djokovic is positive in affirming his beliefs to his food before he eats. Wild, but it works for him.
Djokovic explains: ‘I believe that if you are eating with some kind of fear or worry or anger, the taste of the food and the energy you get from it won’t be as powerful… What you give is what you get.’
He is also obsessive when it comes to chewing, an action that must be focused on entirely.
‘As I chew, the process of digestion is already starting,’ he wrote.
‘The enzymes in my saliva mix with the food, so that when it hits my stomach it’s a fully formed piece of ‘information.’
More often than not Djokovic is happy to expand on his beliefs, on food, on special water, on not getting vaccinated against Covid, and that was why his ‘magic potion’ spotted at previous iterations of Wimbledon became so intriguing.
His bizarre Wimbledon drink habit became an even bigger story when he refused to reveal what was in the bottle, claiming it is ‘magic potion’.
‘Magic potion, that is all I can say,’ he said, when pressed.
Jelena Djokovic was given a ‘false information’ label by Instagram last year after sharing a conspiracy theory that 5G has helped cause coronavirus
His wife Jelena, who boasts quirky views of her own, even took a swipe at her husband’s critics when it came to the ‘potion’ in question.
‘This whole nonsense about making people speak about something they aren’t ready because others are inpatient is absurd,’ she said.
‘Sit a bit in silence. Mind yourself more. Not everything you see is controversial. It could be private. Is that allowed?’
Normally in these weeks Djokovic is frequenting a nearby Buddhist temple.
The Buddhapadipa Temple, on a leafy suburban street just minutes from the All England Club grounds, has been frequented by the reigning champion in previous years.
Djokovic, an Orthodox Christian, once stayed next door to the temple and spent up to an hour a day using its four-acre grounds for meditation and to improve his focus.
‘Many years ago he came to stay next door to the temple and every morning he meditated at the temple,’ Venerable Piyobhaso, minster of religion at Buddhapdipa, tells Mail Sport.
‘He preferred to come in the morning, from 30 minutes up to an hour. Sometimes he spent an hour beside the lake. He became friends with some members.
‘Novak is a very friendly person. He always smiled and didn’t mind having photos with the temple members. He said that meditation helps with his tennis.’
Whatever Djokovic eats, drinks, prays to, believes in works; it works for him anyway. Because 26 days after going under the knife he is here, at Wimbledon, full of belief an eighth men’s singles title is within his grasp.
If ever there was a reminder this was it: never underestimate Novak Djokovic.