Novak Djokovic backed as the only player capable of stopping Roger Federer at Wimbledon

Former world number one Pete Sampras believes only Novak Djokovic was capable of stopping Roger Federer from attaining Wimbledon glory earlier this year.

Federer continued his career resurgence this year with a record-breaking eighth Wimbledon title that saw him overtake Sampras' tally of seven.

It was the Swiss ace's second Grand Slam of the year following his Australian Open triumph, and he did not drop a single set during the two-week period at SW19.

However, Federer was helped by avoiding the likes of Rafael Nadal, Stan Wawrinka, Andy Murray and Djokovic, who had to retire early from his quarter-final match-up with Tomas Berdych due to injury.

The Serbian is the only player to have defeated the 36-year-old twice at Wimbledon, notably defeating him in the 2014 and 2015 finals, while he has also emerged victorious six times in their last eight head-to-head meetings.

Sampras believes Federer always has a good chance of winning at Wimbledon, but that he would have been troubled if he had met Djokovic along the way.

"If I was surprised that Roger won the Australian Open, I wasn't that surprised he won Wimbledon just because of the surface and his experience," Sampras told the official Wimbledon site.

"When he's playing well and feeling good, he really should win Wimbledon every year. He had run into Novak Djokovic in the final a couple of times in recent years, and he didn't have to play him this time.

"And who else can beat Roger on grass? There's really no one."

Djokovic, who has not featured since Wimbledon, is due to return for the first time at Abu Dhabi's World Tennis Championship in December.

His Grand Slam return will be at the 2018 Australian Open, with the 30-year-old recently signalling his intentions to add more major titles to his trophy cabinet.