Novak Djokovic on top form at Wimbledon as he eyes 24th Grand Slam title

Novak Djokovic attributes his remarkable longevity at the top to hours of stretching before even stepping onto the track to practice.

While fellow 36-year-old Andy Murray was left pondering his future after a second-round crash against Stefanos Tsitsipas, Djokovic is bidding on Wimbledon grass for 32nd straight win against Hubert Hurkacz, seeded 17th, on Sunday.

Still lean and rarely injured, Djokovic is a quirk of nature in defying the usual aging process.

But his formula is less magic and more hard sacrifice. The Serb’s love of yoga and tai chi extends to placing separators between his toes to aid flexibility.

He famously limits his fluid intake to water and has written a book embracing the benefits of a gluten-free diet.

The Serbian, who was aiming for a fifth consecutive Wimbledon title, made light work of Stan Wawrinka

“I feel great,” he said after reaching the fourth round without dropping a set.

“I am currently at an optimal body weight and there are also other important aspects to being dynamic, powerful and flexible.

“Tennis is quite a complex sport. It requires a player to have a good balance of all physical attributes.

“We all have different body types. I worked a lot on my flexibility from a young age because I was taught that it would give me a long life. I pay a lot of attention to prevention [of injuries].

“Before I get to the practice track, it takes a lot of work, a few hours of work before I actually start training.

‘It helps me. It helps prolong my career and compete at the highest level. It helps me avoid injuries, God forbid, or something like that.

“You see other players at this age, they are expected to have a big injury because of the wear and tear on the body.

Lucky for me I only had one major one, the elbow surgery that kept me off the track for almost a year.

Hubert Hurkacz, the 17th seed from Poland, is the next opponent to face Djokovic

“There were also some muscle tears, but overall I have remained healthy given the intensity of my career and the number of games I have played in the last 20 years.”

Djokovic is aiming for his fifth consecutive Wimbledon title and eighth overall, tying Roger Federer’s record.

As the winner of more Grand Slams in singles than any other male tennis player in history, he would also equal Margaret Court’s highest mark of 24 if successful within a week.

His immediate priority is to deal with the big serve Hurkacz, who defeated Federer in 2021 to end his storied Wimbledon career.

Djokovic knows he will have to improve despite making it through the first three rounds, although he will be aware that his last win against Stan Wawrinka was only achieved at 10.46pm on Friday night.

Djokovic kisses the grass of Center Court after his victory over Wawrinka, following yet another win on tennis’ hallowed turf

‘He [Hurkacz] covers the job very well. He has very long arms and when he gets to the net he closes it very well,” said the second seed.

He also plays a lot of doubles and has good successes. For a tall man, he defends well, even slides. Just generally a very complete player, I don’t really see too many holes in his game.

“It will definitely be the toughest challenge of the tournament so far for me, but I can move up a gear or two from my last game.”