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Cape Town - Novak Djokovic reflects on his on-court troubles ahead of the Fever Tree Championships in London this week.
The Serb retired in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon last year due to an elbow injury. Now, almost a year later, Djokovic is back on court but he’d be the first to admit that he’s nowhere near his form of old, which saw him notch up six grand slam titles in three seasons.
This year, the world number 21 has struggled, racking up a 14-8 record and is yet to pick up a title of any sort.
“It’s frustrating at times to know that maybe I’m not able to execute what I was doing so well for so many years before,” the 31-year-old told atpworldtour.com.
“But those are the circumstances that are present and hopefully will change, as everything in life is evolving, changing. And I’m working on it daily to be able to get closer to that perfect game scenario that I would like to have.
“I’ve faced myself this major injury that got me off the court for six-plus months, surgery and so forth. You feel the consequences of that more mentally than physically.
"I never knew that it was going to take so much time for me really to get back into that state of mind where I’m comfortable, where I’m confident, where I’m confident with my game, with the changes I made. But it is what it is, and it’s a new experience and I’m open for that and obviously I have to embrace it.”
Joining Djokovic in London in the star-studded draw is friend and rival Andy Murray, the talented Grigor Dimitrov and world number six Marin Cilic.
The former world number one is set to face Australian John Millman in his opening match on Tuesday.
