“Novak Djokovic made the final on no prep” – Andy Roddick defends Serb against criticism for Wimbledon loss to Carlos Alcaraz

Andy Roddick has come to Novak Djokovic's defense after the Serb failed to win the 2024 Wimbledon Championships men's singles title. In the final, the defending champion Carlos Alcaraz beat him in straight sets.

Djokovic's participation in the London Major this year wasn't certain because of a knee injury he sustained at the French Open. It was a meniscus tear on the right knee that required surgical correction.

The Serb flew to Wimbledon to assess his readiness and eventually decided to enter the draw. He opened his campaign with a straight-set win over Vit Kopriva in the first round. He came up good against Jacob Fearnley and Alexei Popyrin in the second and third rounds, respectively, but not without losing a set each in the matches.

In the fourth round, the second seed bettered 15th seed Holger Rune in straight sets and received a walkover against Alex de Minaur in the quarterfinals. He downed Lorenzo Musetti in another straight-setter to enter the final against 21-year-old Carlos Alcaraz.

In the latest episode of the Served with Andy Roddick podcast, Andy Roddick praised Djokovic's run to the final despite less practice time.

"The guy made the final on no prep, like he showed up the Monday before and was like, ‘Let’s wing it’, and wasn’t right the first couple of rounds but made a final," Roddick said (at 6:09).

However, Djokovic suffered a 6-2, 6-2, 7-6(4) beating at the hands of Alcaraz on Centre Court, inviting harsh criticism. Roddick shunned the critics while suggesting the expectations from the 37-year-old have been unrealistic to some degree. He said:

"Are we gonna say he’s slow? He’s not slow, he’s 37, he’s slower than he was five years ago but the guy’s one of the best movers of all time. His ball striking was great, his serve was average, he didn’t volley well at all.

"But there’s a couple of things there are also… like I read comments and it was like ‘Knee’s bad! Knee’s good!’. Ok, knee can be healthy, not injured, and also because of the knee injury, you’re not as physically dialed as we’ve come to expect you to be, by no fault of your own."

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"Nothing Novak Djokovic does on the tennis court is horrible" - Andy Roddick

Novak Djokovic (Getty)

Novak Djokovic struggled to collect points at the net against Carlos Alcaraz in this year's Wimbledon final. He averaged only 51 percent (27/53) on the net against the Spaniard's 73 percent (16/22). This shortcoming also drew flak for the Serb, however, Andy Roddick suggested otherwise.

"The other thing is people like ‘Oh Novak’s volleys are horrible!’. Okay, time out, let’s just stop. Nothing he does on the tennis court is horrible. Because he lost to another younger player who is going to also be one of the all-time greats, doesn’t mean we can deal on absolutes," Roddick said in the same episode of the Served with Andy Roddick podcast (at 7:11).

Roddick then claimed that the Serb's play at the net looked poorer in the presence of Alcaraz, who had better legs to rely on.

"People were like, ‘Oh he’s missing those drop shots’. They’re below his net, he’s hitting it up to the fastest person on the planet. There’s an extra layer with everything you do when you’re playing the greats even if you’re a great," the American added.

In numbers, this was Djokovic's sixth tour-level meeting with Alcaraz and their head-to-head tally now stands tied at 3-3.