Each year on the grass of Hurlingham, an exhibition event takes place a few days before the start of Wimbledon as a warm-up to the grass-court Grand Slam. In 2024, the Giorgio Armani Tennis Classic brought together Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev, Karen Khachanov and Lorenzo Musetti.
Djokovic, who decided to play Wimbledon despite having surgery on the meniscus in his right knee three weeks ago, beat Medvedev 6-3, 6-4 and reassured himself about his physical condition having practised this week with strapping on the knee. After the game, he said he felt no pain.
“I can tell you that I had a lot of fun today. I can also tell you that painless tennis is the best tennis. It was a good test against one of the best players in the world, after doing a few practise sets in the last few days. I wanted to come here to test my knee, to see how I feel, the test is a success, so I’m very happy,” he said in front of a large audience, in comments reported by Tennis Actu.
For his part, Medvedev maintained perspective after an exhibition defeat.
“It’s a nice place, it’s good to play a match, not to lose, but it doesn’t matter,” he said.
“At least it wasn’t Wimbledon so I have another opportunity on Monday. I hope to play better there. I don’t have it in the first round so it should be a bit easier.”
In the first round of Wimbledon, the Serb will face qualifier Vit Kopriva, 123rd player in the world. The Russian will face Aleksandar Kovacevic, ranked 86th in the world.
In the other matches of the day, Musetti defeated Khachanov 6-4, 7-6. In doubles, the pair of former players Thomas Enqvist and Nicolas Almagro beat the duo Mark Philipoussis and Marcos Baghdatis 8-5.
