WIMBLEDON — With each match, each win, and each twist, step, and slide on the Wimbledon grass, June 5 feels a little further away.
That was the day last month that Novak Djokovic underwent surgery on his right knee, after tearing his medial meniscus during a French Open match against Francisco Cerundolo two days earlier. A match that he won. In five sets.
Multiple surgeons looked at scans of the injury, and they told Djokovic that an operation was his only option.
The next day he posted a picture on social media, standing in Paris with his wife and his team, steadying himself with crutches, and then he was on a plane home to Belgrade. His road to playing at Wimbledon, a tournament then 25 days away, had already begun.
Most of the people standing with him in that photo thought it was ridiculous to even consider recovering in time for an event that he has won seven times. The more realistic goal figured to be the Olympics, set to start back in Paris on July 27. The Olympics is perhaps the only important tournament in the world where the ultimate prize has eluded Djokovic.
Djokovic had other ideas. He focused on Wimbledon, feeling in his heart that something would be off with the universe if he had to miss it. Now, he has once again made the semifinals at the London event.
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