"The knee was fine, the movement looked good" - Andy Roddick on Carlos Alcaraz 'exposing' Novak Djokovic's 'rushed' recovery in Wimbledon final

Andy Roddick recently discussed how Carlos Alcaraz 'exposed' Novak Djokovic's hasty recovery from knee surgery during the final of the 2024 Wimbledon Championships. The 24-time Grand Slam champion was playing in his 10th final and his second against the Spaniard at SW19.

Before coming to London to compete at the grasscourt Major, Djokovic suffered a torn medial meniscus in his right knee during the fourth round of the 2024 French Open. This injury led to him withdrawing from his quarterfinal match against Casper Ruud at Roland Garros.

Following the injury, the Serb underwent surgery in early June before returning to the court at the Wimbledon Championships. Despite the surgery, he managed to reach the final of the tournament before falling to defending champion Carlos Alcaraz 2-6, 2-6, 6-7(4).

During a recent episode of the "Served with Andy Roddick" podcast, Roddick stated that Novak Djokovic played with a knee that was as healthy as possible considering the surgery had taken place just five weeks before the tournament.

The American said that despite having a "healthy knee," the former World No.1 must have built reps and had to put in extra effort to regain his form and feel comfortable on the court.

"There's a difference between a knee being healthy. I think it's as healthy as it can possibly be considering he had surgery five weeks ago. Something I had mentioned going into the tournament is, there's a difference between being healthy but you also have to build up reps," Roddick said [3:19].

"It doesn't matter how great you are at anything that you do. You can have the best guitarist on Earth and if they don't play guitar for five weeks they're not going to be as good as if they're in the middle of a world tour and they're doing it every night and getting the timing, getting the rhythm, getting the placement," he added [3:40].

Andy Roddick praised Novak Djokovic for his performance in the tournament following the knee surgery and said that reaching the final was a "testament to his greatness."

"So I think Novak has been good enough and it's just a testament to his greatness to get through to this final. The knee was fine, the movement looked good but to be rushed, he didn't have any time to train physically before this tournament," Andy Roddick said [3:58].

Roddick also acknowledged that Carlos Alcaraz was a formidable opponent who "exposed" the Serb's weaknesses during the final.

"Carlos can hit every shot in the book. He doesn't always make them but he can hit. You have to have your movement, respect the threat of every direction on every shot, that is a different mental hurdle. If you haven't had the time to build yourself physically, not if your knee is healthy but you have to have reps and when you get to the highest level, those things tend to expose themselves a little quicker," he added [4:31].

Novak Djokovic on wanting to play at SW19 despite knee surgery: "Was really focused on trying to make Wimbledon happen for me this year"

Novak Djokovic

During a press conference at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships, Novak Djokovic revealed that following his knee surgery, his sole focus was on healing and rehabilitating to compete in the grasscourt Major.

"I was really focused on trying to make Wimbledon happen for me this year and I was not reckless on any day. I never pushed anything. So once we started rehab I followed every single day everything that they said that I have to do. I did even more than that, in terms of trying to make an effort for Wimbledon to come back," Novak Djokovic said.

The Serb stated that he had strictly adhered to the guidance of his medical team and only returned to the court at Wimbledon once they gave him the green light.

"Everything that we've done in the process of 20+ days has been giving us a positive indication and signal. I mean I just followed what they were saying," he added.

Looking ahead, Novak Djokovic will next compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics. He already has one Olympic medal to his name, a bronze medal he earned in 2008.