Novak Djokovic called Serena Williams an “inspiration” as the 23-time grand slam prepares to make what he called an “epic” comeback at the age of 44.

Djokovic revealed he had seen Williams in the gym more often this week than compared to her prime and is excited to see how she performs.

“What she's doing is inspirational and it's epic. That's what I told her. I always admired her career, her journey, her story. Of course, Venus', as well.

“For her to come back after years of being absent from the tour, two children later, and to give so much effort to, not just for her own satisfaction or coming back on the tour, but also to give all of us a pleasure of seeing her back on the court - in singles as well as doubles - is remarkable.

“I told her that whatever happens, what she's doing is truly inspirational for me personally, I'm sure for millions around the world.

“I see her in the gym more than I have, I think, seen her when she was at her prime. It tells me that she really wants this to work out the best way possible.”

Emma Raducanu has postponed her pre-Wimbledon press conference after cutting a practice session short to increase fears that the British No 1 could miss this year’s tournament.

Raducanu has been managing a foot injury since reaching the Queen’s final and appeared at the All England Club on Saturday with her right ankle strapped in protective tape.

The 23-year-old took part in a training session at midday before playing a practice session with world No 20 Anna Kalinskaya on Court 3 at 1pm.

However, Raducanu appeared to wrap up the session earlier than planned after playing, and losing, four games in a row, before her scheduled press conference for later in the afternoon was rearranged for tomorrow.

It appears Raducanu is giving herself as much time as possible to manage the injury, ahead of her scheduled first-round match against Croatia’s Antonio Ruzic on Monday.

Aryna Sabalenka also cut her pre-Wimbledon short after roughly eight minutes, while the world No 1 also appeared to get her messaging confused by saying prize money has remained the same over the last 10 years.

Prize money has increased substantially in the last decade, but it is the ratio of prize money to tournament revenues that has remained roughly the same, with the leading players’ representatives saying it is around 15 per cent.

Sabalenka, though, did say that she wanted to protest for lower-ranked players who struggle to make a living from the sport.

“It's a great start they raise the prize money. [But] if you look over the last 10 years, if you compare the prize money to 2016, it's kind of like the same because [the share of revenue] went down.

“Listen, we do it for the tour, we don't do it for ourselves. We do it for the rest of the players who are suffering to even hire coach. It's not an easy life for players who is, like, lower in the ranking. So we do it for them.

”I'm more than sure the crowd understand us. I mean, we're playing matches, we're there, we're competing, we're bringing the show.

“Now we just limiting our media. We just trying to really get to something that everyone going to be happy with.”

Emma Raducanu trained on Court 3 alongside Anna Kalinskaya, and with her right ankle tapped. It looks like a protective measure, for additional support. The British No 1’s movement did not appear to be overly limited.

“It’s definitely a tricky one, isn’t it? I was prepared that I was going to play someone who’s a top seed.

“I’ve lost my ranking and I’ve lost my seeded place in the slam so I have to work up the rankings to get that back, so it’s a lottery really.

“Obviously Taylor is a great player. We’ve played multiple times already, and it’s going to be a really, really good battle. It’s going to be a tough match. I’m looking forward to it.”

“I think it's getting better, even though we are not at the point where we are 100 per cent happy. In the same time we have seen improvement.

“Again, it’s not only about the money. It's the whole scenario we take into consideration with welfare and everything else. Let's see.”

On Wimbledon’s proposal to form a player council: “I just think it's better if we don't discuss here. I don't like to talk about this at the moment.”

Another question on continuing the protest despite what he called “improvement”: “I think we talked enough about this at the moment.

“The Grand Slams know what we ask, then we see how it goes. Again, I'm here now to talk about tennis.”

Emma Raducanu is wearing strapping on her right ankle as she returns to the practice courts at Wimbledon.

The British No 1 is managing a ‘niggle’ ahead of Wimbledon, but will train for a couple of hours this afternoon.

She is scheduled to speak to the media later this afternoon, but that strapping does not look idea following reports that she was wearing a protective boot earlier this week.

Serena Williams will make her singles comeback against Maya Joint, while there was a gasp during the Wimbledon ceremony as Taylor Fritz was drawn against Britain’s Jack Draper

These are our picks of the draw.

Naomi Osaka retired from the Bad Homburg final due to a foot injury - just two days before Wimbledon.

The four-time grand slam champion was trailing Karolina Muchova 6-1 1-0 when she retired from the match.

Osaka had won four matches in a row this week without dropping a set to reach her first grass-court final.

Osaka was bidding to win her first title since the 2021 Australian Open but was instead dealt a blow to her Wimbledon preparations.

“I apologise for not being able to finish but this atmosphere has been incredible all week so thank you so much,” Osaka told the crowd in Germany.

Jannik Sinner said he “wanted to talk about tennis” as the defending Wimbledon champion cut his pre-tournament press conference short.

It was announced by the press conference moderator that Sinner would be timing his press conference, as players stage their prize money protest, and the world No 1 limited his appearance to around 10 minutes, answering questions in English, Italian and German.

Sinner there had been “improvements” in the discussions on prize money after Wimbledon announced a 20 per cent increase, but refused to answer a further question about the changes he would like to see around player welfare.