Novak Djokovic shockingly good in first-round win at Wimbledon 2024

Nearly a month after having surgery on his torn meniscus, Novak Djokovic stepped onto center court at Wimbledon with a gray brace on his knee. The 37-year-old was trying to do something he had never done before. That is have surgery on a joint and then rush back to play quite quickly. Even he could not have been too sure how fit he would be.

In his first-round match against Vit Kopriva, he got a bit of help. As well as Djokovic can serve with placement, he has never been one of the best servers on the ATP because he has not needed to be. His serve has greatly improved over his career, but the reason he has 24 Grand Slam victories is his elite ability to return serve and consistently hit mind-boggling winners.

Against Kopriva, though, one might have thought the Serb was the second coming of John Isner. Kopriva was simply helpless against Djokovic's serve. So much so that Djokovic had to be wondering exactly what he was doing right so he could replicate the serve for every match he will ever play, or either thinking to himself how Kopriva ever was allowed to play professional tennis.

Novak Djokovic breezes in first-round match at Wimbledon 2024

This led to potentially Djokovic wishing he had gotten a bit more work in. While he needs to test his knee, he also hasn't played a real match in a month and needs to shake off any rust. The entire match took than less two hours. The Serb's serve was just too much as he landed a solid 67 percent of first serves but won an astounding 89 percent of his first serve points and 68 percent of his second serve points.

Djokovic also wasn't giving Kopriva any mistakes, either, however. The Serb played as if he had played in peak form for weeks heading into Wimbledon. Kopriva was simply overwhelmed but at least he can one day tell his grandchildren he played Novak Djokovic on center court at Wimbledon.

The Serb has to be extremely pleased with how his knee held up. He showed no issues from the injury and took the match 6-1 6-2 6-2. He looks ready to make another deep run at a Grand Slam he has won seven times.

More tennis news and analysis: