Former World no.1 Lleyton Hewitt has tipped Novak Djokovic as the favorite for the upcoming Wimbledon 2022. Djokovic is yet to win his first major of the year as he could not participate in the Australian Open 2022 due to his vaccination issues and then he lost to his rival Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinal of the French Open 2022.
Djokovic has a solid game on grass and has won the Wimbledon crown on six occasions. The Serbian had won his 20th Grand slam title when he had defeated Italy’s Matteo Berrettini in the final of Wimbledon 2021.
Djokovic is seeded number one for Wimbledon as Daniil Medvedev cannot take part in the championship as Russian and Belarusian players are banned due to conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
On the other hand, the Australian believes Rafael Nadal will be happy with his recent performances despite injury woes. Nadal has won the first two slams of the year for the first time in his career. The Spaniard now has won 22 Grand slam titles, two more than Djokovic and Roger Federer.
Hewitt said in a recent interview, “(Nadal’s lead) is probably not decisive but I don’t think Rafa’s thinking about that too much anyway “I think he’s just grateful he’s still able to go out there and play to the level he wants to play at, and it’s still good enough.
“We’re pretty fortunate that we’ve been able to see someone like Rafa play for so long so I think, every opportunity we get to watch him for however long it is, we should really appreciate it.
“Obviously this year has been pretty tough for Novak. But his record at Wimbledon, his game style, he has to be the favourite going into it. “But I think some of the young guys are going to be tough and they’re going to push him. There was probably only Rafa that was going to beat him at the French Open so I think he’ll be feeling pretty confident going into Wimbledon.”
Both Nadal and Djokovic will play at the Hurlingham Club before the all-important Wimbledon. Hewitt also recalled his time as a player when he played at the prestigious club.
He said, “Back when I was a player I used to go out and play my matches and I’d see all the old boys in the locker room warming up and doing their stretches and we’d have a bit of banter, and now I’m one of those guys,” said the 41-year-old. “It’ll be fun. It’s a very prestigious club.”
Wimbledon starts on June 27 in London.
