Novak Djokovic has problem he 'can't beat' staring him in the face before Wimbledon

Eight-time Grand Slam winner Jimmy Connors has warned Novak Djokovic that age and fatigue are problems no athlete can defeat ahead of the Serb's bid for another Wimbledon title. Djokovic has trimmed down his playing schedule but he remains one of the big hitters going into this year's showdown at the All England Club, where he may have to overcome young guns Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner to go all the way.

The 38-year-old is clear at the top of the men's all-time Grand Slam charts with 24 titles. But he retains the hunger to extend his lead and the ability to threaten at big tournaments, as he proved at the French Open earlier this month.

Djokovic only dropped one set at Roland-Garros en route to his semi-final defeat against top seed Jannik Sinner. And he will be expected to mix it with the best again at Wimbledon, where he last prevailed in 2022.

Connors, however, believes that Djokovic may need the right set of circumstances to enjoy success in the latter stages of the tournament, owing to the notion that tough matches in the early rounds can have an inescapable effect on an older athlete.

"Getting older and playing against these young kids is no easy task," the American told the Advantage Connors podcast. "Especially in these three out of five set matches.

"It's not the one that you win 6-4 in the fifth or 7-5 in the fourth set. It's the ones that follow that break you down and wear you out to where you get to the quarter-finals or the semi-finals and that is where you are supposed to be starting to play your best and getting on a roll, not fighting fatigue.

"It just happens to every athlete. You can't beat it. Because the athletes, when you get older, your competition is younger and when they come in and want to make their name like Sinner and Alcaraz, they want to use you, the older guy, as their stepping stone.

"A lot of these guys - to beat Novak and to be able to tell your kids that I beat Djokovic at Wimbledon, that's big!"

Djokovic will arrive at Wimbledon without having played a warm-up tournament on grass. Alcaraz, meanwhile, has been put through his paces at Queen's this week, and Sinner is in the mix at the Halle Open in Germany.