Greg Rusedski has described Novak Djokovic as the greatest athlete he has seen in his life and warned that writing the legendary Serbian off is a mistake.
The former world No 4 declared that Djokovic has the desire to play for “a lot longer” and backed tennis icon to return from his injury “with a vengeance.”
Djokovic tore the medial meniscus in his right knee in his fourth round victory against Francisco Cerundolo at the French Open earlier this month.
The injury forced the 37-year-old to pull out ahead of his Roland Garros quarter-final with Casper Ruud and he underwent surgery on his right knee.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion faces a race to be fit for the 2024 Wimbledon Championships, which will get underway on July 1.
Djokovic is yet to confirm when he will return to action, with the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris – where the tennis event will start on July 27 – a huge priority.
On an episode of the Tennis Channel Inside-In podcast, Rusedski expressed his confidence that Djokovic will bounce back strongly from his injury setback.
“I’ve had some conversations with his (Djokovic’s) agent and he wants to play a lot longer, he wants to be the Tom Brady of tennis,” said the 1997 US Open finalist.
“And a meniscus injury is not serious, it’s just bad luck. And he was starting to play well at the French, I would not discount Novak. If Novak wants to play for another two, three, four years — whatever it is — don’t write him off.
“This is not a serious injury and he’s the most disciplined athlete I’ve ever seen. I think he’s probably the greatest athlete I’ve ever seen in my life, I mean he is that good as a player.
“Yes, this year hasn’t been great for him, but let’s not forget, last year he won three of the four Majors and he was in the finals of Wimbledon. Probably one of the Wimbledon finals where he probably should have won the match, but things just didn’t go his way.
“And everybody’s writing him off because it’s five months he hasn’t played great and he’s got an injury now. I’m not writing him off at all, I think he’s gonna be back with a vengeance.
“I think if the hunger’s there and he still enjoys travelling and he can get the family on the road with him a little bit more, watch out.”