Djokovic was bitterly disappointed at his quarter final exit to Marco Cecchinato at the French Open this month, so much so that he hastily hinted that at skipping the grass season this year. For me this was a good sign that Djokovic would play the grass season and play it well, perhaps to the point of a final at Queens and maybe even Wimbledon.

Clearly Djokovic is still trying to regain his form and laser precision ground strokes after his long term elbow injury that has lead to a trophy drought since winning Roland Garros in 2015. But there are plenty of signs he is just doing that and if you can overlook the quarter final defeat to the Italian who played a brilliant match and out of his skin to beat Djokovic. For me the clue in that tournament lay in the previous round where he easily disposed of a surging and threatening Verdasco in three straight sets.

I have to admit I thought Novak was the most legitimate threat to take out Nadal during the French Open having seen him play an excellent 2 sets against him just a few weeks earlier in Rome. It was Dominic Thiem he proved the finalist instead. Even though Thiem had the power to threaten Nadal over a 5 set match this was asking a lot. Djokovic has far better defensive skills than Thiem and far better feel on his ground strokes and I think even when being well below his former best would have taken a set off Nadal to make that final far more entertaining.

For me it’s not a question of if but when Djokovic returns to the type of form that has lead to 12 Grand Slams. He is now over 30 and I believe will be desperate to add to his 12 slams over the next few years before age starts getting the better of him. Novak has beaten every legitimate threat that will be competing in Queens and Wimbledon this year before and so we should expect him to flourish on grass having had a good warm up during the clay season. He has won 8 of his last 10 matches so he’s definitely hitting form right now.

Last year Djokovic won Eastbourne on grass and was in the quarter finals at Wimbledon before he was forced to retire due to the same reoccurring elbow injury. Watch out for Djokovic at Queens where he has been given a wild card and if progresses to the quarter finals or beyond I think he’s a dark horse to take seriously during Wimbledon. All the attention will be on Nadal and Federer as per usual allowing Novak to slip in under the radar.