A strange start to the men’s singles is in prospect at this year’s Wimbledon with neither the great British hope nor the defending champion likely to receive anything approaching the level of backing they would normally expect to receive from the home crowd.

The way in which the draw has worked out, with both Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic up against much lower ranked Englishmen – Liam Broady and James Ward respectively - who are bound to bring out the fabled British love of the underdog, is certainly unusual.

In both cases, too, they are up against the unknown in competitive terms, but whereas Murray is unlikely to be inconvenienced by an opponent he knows well and has practised against extensively, his great rival may be facing a dangerous opponent at the very point in the competition that he is at his most vulnerable as he seeks to re-attune himself to the grass.

That Djokovic confined himself to a single match in advance of the tournament was in itself nothing out of the ordinary, albeit he had clearly contemplated using the extra week now available between the French Open and Wimbledon to get a bit more practise on board until Murray pushed him as hard as he did to win his first title in Paris.

“It's been many years that I haven't played any lead up event to Wimbledon,” he noted.

“Up to just two years ago, the schedule was such that you had to literally make a transition from clay courts to grass courts in two days which I felt was a bit too much. Now at least you have a week between where that gives you a bit more time to rest, adjust to the grass courts, and eventually play a lead up event.

“I decided not to because winning Roland Garros was obviously one of the most memorable and beautiful moments of my career. Also it took a lot out of me. I thought that it's more important for me to just rejuvenate and rest a little bit from tennis and then come back preparing for Wimbledon.

“So it's not something I'm doing for the first time, playing only grass court event of the year here in Wimbledon. I've played a match in Boodles (an exhibition event). I've played a lot of points in the practice sessions these four or five days, trying to be on the grass as much as I can. Thankfully the weather was allowing me to play each day on grass.”

As to what will confront him on the other side of the net he will be aware that he is up against a player who may have struggled to establish himself in his own right in the course of a 10 year professional career but has a Davis Cup record that demonstrates a capacity to raise his game both against quality opponents and in a heated atmosphere, having won more matches than he has lost and some crucial ones among them, not least that witnessed by a Glasgow crowd last year when his 15-13 final set win over John Isner - ranked 150 places above him - set up Britain’s quarter-final win over the USA

Djokovic is clearly aware, then, of the need to avoid giving the home crowd too much opportunity to get involved in the match.

“Every time you face an opponent for the first time, it's always important to start off well and not allow your opponent to take his chances and opportunities,” he observed.

Yet in terms of the knowledge required, as he faces the son of a London cabbie it is the Serbian who has all the advantage having experienced this situation so many times before.

“It's going to be the first match on the untouched grass,” he said.

“That's probably one of the most special tennis matches that you get to experience as a professional tennis player. I'm looking forward to that.

“Obviously I know that he doesn't have much to lose. The Centre Court is one of the cradles of our sport, will be hopefully packed and we can enjoy some great match.”

By contrast as the first man since Rod Laver to hold all four Grand Slam titles at the same time and the only one ever to arrive at Wimbledon with them all in his possession, Djokovic has everything to lose, but he as comfortable in his own skin as he should.

“I'm always excited to be back in Wimbledon,” he said.

“It's been a tournament that I always dreamt of winning. Every time I come back here, even though of course each year is different, I kind of relive those memories from the childhood days when I was really imagining myself being part of this wonderful event and hopefully winning it one day.

“Even though I've been, you know, very blessed to achieve this childhood dream and win this tournament three times, I still feel that kind of excitement as I'm coming in for the first time.

“Of course, the situation this year is quite different from previous years because I'm coming in with a Roland Garros title for the first time. That gives me, obviously, a lot of confidence prior to this event.”

He says so in the knowledge that he is only halfway towards matching the achievement only Laver, twice in the sixties and American Don Budge, immediately ahead of World War II, have managed in winning all four men’s singles titles in the same calendar year.

He would most assuredly dispute Serena Williams’ assessment when she observed yesterday: “I think he’ll get it easy.” However he knows he will never have a better chance, while winning both Wimbledon and the US Open would also see him match Budge’s 78 year old record of winning six Grand Slam titles in succession.

“Obviously I'm at the peak of my career at the moment,” Djokovic acknowledged.

“It hopefully can still keep going. I see still lots of room for improvement, things that I can work on. That's something that encourages me. That's something that keeps me grounded in a way, gives me more reason to practice.”