Novak Djokovic trait makes Wimbledon rivals ‘crumble’ as Andrew Castle jealous

Novak Djokovic is bidding to win an Open Era record 24th Grand Slam title at Wimbledon, where he would also tie Roger Federer on eight SW19 titles. Assessing his chances, Andrew Castle told Express Sport that he was “jealous” of the Serb as he pointed to Djokovic’s ability to make opponents crumble.

Djokovic is the clear favourite to lift the Wimbledon trophy in just over two weeks’ time, having won the last four editions of the tournament in a row. The world No 2 broke the men’s Grand Slam record at the recent French Open as he won his 23rd Major and he is now pushing to be the most decorated player in the Open Era.

Victory at the All England Club would also put him within seven matches of completing the Calendar Grand Slam and would see him tie Federer’s men’s record of eight Wimbledon triumphs. And Andrew Castle believes that Djokovic’s chances rest on one other man in the draw – Carlos Alcaraz.

Speaking to Express Sport on behalf of Grosvenor Sport, the Wimbledon pundit said: “I think a lot of how many Djokovic ends up winning and he’s had seven Wimbledon’s already and can join Federer with eight, you know with this Wimbledon, I think a lot depends on Carlos Alcaraz, who was unbelievable at Queen’s Club and you know, I’ve seen him play live a lot of times, but to see him go from very ordinary on day one to like unplayable on day three to seven was amazing and he’s great for the game.”

Djokovic and Alcaraz recently contested a highly-anticipated semi-final in Paris where the Spaniard started cramping and quickly went away in the last two sets. But the 20-year-old bounced back to win his first grass title at Queen’s and returned to No 1 in the world as a result.

Castle said Alcaraz’s cramps were a sign of Djokovic’s ability to make opponents crumble. “As a crossover star, he’s not there yet. He’s a tennis phenom, but you know, he’s had that experience of playing Novak in the semi-final of the recent French Open and he kind of crumbled a bit which amazed everybody,” he added.

“But that’s the presence of Novak Djokovic, whether he cares what anybody thinks about what he says or what he stands for, he certainly appears to be able to throw everything off and you know, he always makes himself the centre of happenings in the big moments.”

“[Stefanos] Tsitsipas has been close. Again, not exactly bad for the game, 6ft4 and kind of flashing blade and hair and eyes and everything. I mean, they’re quite glamourous, you know, I wanna see those glamorous figures play the game and be successful because I think it brings outside punters into the sport, you know, with the greatest of respect, people like [Andrey] Rublev, who’s five in the world, you know, people don’t know who they are yet, you know, maybe it’s time for them to have a breakthrough.”

But Castle couldn’t look past Djokovic and Alcaraz as he noted the significance of the Spaniard’s victory at Queen’s. He added: “Nobody’s playing to make up the numbers, they all go after each other and the margins are absolutely tiny. But, you know, really, you can only see those three or four guys winning.

“It’s very difficult to see beyond the top two seeds, especially Holger Rune, lovely player, Casper Ruud, wonderful player, but I don’t see them being ready to win a Grand Slam on a grass court yet. Yeah, we’ll see, that week at Queen’s was very, very important for Alcaraz.”