The first half of Novak Djokovic’s 2018 season on the ATP Tour left fans very concerned about his future in tennis.

Djokovic had sustained an elbow injury at Wimbledon the year before, which ultimately kept him sidelined until the 2018 Australian Open, where he crashed out in the fourth round. The Serb then tallied a number of early exits at big events and, outside of the Italian Open, failed to make it past the quarterfinals of any tournament up to and including Roland Garros.

At the French Open that year, Djokovic suffered a shocking quarterfinal defeat to world number 72 Marco Cecchinato, who had never won a main draw Grand Slam match prior to the tournament.

Novak Djokovic’s reaction to shocking 2018 French Open defeat

In his post-match press conference after the defeat to Cecchinato, a dejected Djokovic was asked about his plans for the grass-court season. The eventual 24-time Grand Slam champion issued a surprising reply.

“I don’t know if I’m going to play on grass,” he said. Asked to clarify whether that meant he was going to skip Wimbledon, Djokovic repeated: “I don’t know if I’m going to play on grass.” At that point, Djokovic was a three-time Wimbledon champion, but his prior two campaigns at the All England Club had ended in disappointment.

After going back-to-back in SW19 in 2014 and 2015, Djokovic lost in the third round in 2016 and exited in the quarterfinals in 2017. He ultimately did play the grass season in 2018, starting with a run at the Queen’s Club Championships in London, where he hadn’t featured since 2010.

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Djokovic made the final of Queen’s, which spurred him on to end his Grand Slam drought at Wimbledon. He beat Rafael Nadal en route to the final of the grass-court major, where he defeated Kevin Anderson to hoist his fourth Wimbledon trophy and first major in over two years.

Reflecting on nearly skipping the grass swing, Djokovic said in a press conference: “I decided to play. Obviously, I was disappointed right after the match. It’s hard to talk about what comes next, after that loss in Roland Garros. That’s why I said I don’t know, because I was just off the court.

“When I took few days off and regrouped, I wanted to get back on the court and keep on going. Obviously it was a right choice. I had a great week in Queen’s. Just managed to get five matches under my belt, have a great buildup and preparation to Wimbledon.”

Novak Djokovic said he had doubts during poor string of results

Discussing his poor results in the first half of 2018, Djokovic said: “There were moments of doubt, of frustration, disappointment, where you’re questioning whether you want to keep it going in this way or that way, where is that taking you.

“Everybody goes through that process of thinking. I don’t know anybody that is managing always to stay positive, to always 100% have self-belief, confidence. It’s life. We humans, we go through that.

“Obviously the entire process, speaking from this position right now, it makes it even better for me, makes it even more special because I managed to overcome challenges and obstacles, get myself to the finals of a slam. Obviously if you told me that six months ago, I would take it right away.

“But did I truly believe that I can get back on the level? Yes, I mean, it’s hard for me to play tennis and not believe that I can be the best in what I do. I mean, I’ve been fortunate to achieve so much in my career that every time I go to the tournament, I have highest of ambitions. Yeah, that’s always kind of a mindset.”

After winning Wimbledon in 2018, Djokovic finished the season by clinching titles at the Cincinnati Open, the US Open and the Shanghai Masters.