Novak Djokovic aims to match Wimbledon title haul of childhood hero Pete Sampras

Top seed Novak Djokovic believes he is in good shape to match the Wimbledon title haul of his childhood hero Pete Sampras.

Defending champion Djokovic is first up on Centre Court on Monday when he takes on Korean world No 75 Soonwoo Kwon.

The Serb has won the title six times at SW19 and goes into this year's tournament on the back of a 21-match winning streak at the grass-court Grand Slam.

His last defeat came in 2017 when he retired injured from his quarter-final match against Czech Tomas Berdych.

Djokovic is aiming to become only the fourth man in the Open era – after Bjorn Bjorg, Sampras and Roger Federer – to win four successive singles trophies at Wimbledon.

“Pete Sampras, winning his first Wimbledon, was the first tennis match I ever saw on the TV,” the world No 2 said. “Pete has won it seven times, if I'm not mistaken. Hopefully, yeah, I can do the same this year.”

Djokovic will be playing his first match in more than three weeks and it will be his first competitive outing since losing to eventual winner Rafael Nadal in the French Open quarter-finals.

But the 35-year-old is pleased with how his preparation has been going. "So far so good,” said the 20-time Grand Slam winner.

“I didn't have any lead-up tournaments to Wimbledon, but I've had success in Wimbledon in the past without having any official matches and tournaments. I just had one exhibition match a few days ago in Hurlingham.

The hard work continues