Novak Djokovic reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals
Novak Djokovic reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the 16th time, but it proved a hard day’s work at Centre Court as he ground past Australian Alex de Minaur in a thrilling encounter.
The 38-year-old started abysmally, losing the opening set in 31 minutes, but he eventually assumed control of a cagey battle to win 1-6 6-4 6-4 6-4.
Djokovic admitted that De Minaur had a great start to the match, saying, “I don’t know how I’m feeling to be honest. I’m still trying to process the whole match and what happened on the court. It wasn’t a great start for me, it was a great start for Alex.”
De Minaur’s hustling and bustling style caused Djokovic headaches with his shot-placement and movement, but the Serb found his range to win the next two sets full of attritional baseline rallies.
The match was watched by Roger Federer from the front row of the Royal Box, the player whose record eight men’s titles Djokovic is trying to equal.
Djokovic joked about Federer’s presence, saying, “Sometimes I wish I had a serve and volley, and a nice touch from the gentleman that’s there. That would help.”
Djokovic has now won 43 of his last 45 matches at Wimbledon and not since 2017 has he failed to reach the final. He will face Italian 22nd seed Flavio Cobolli in the quarter-finals, seeking to keep alive his quest for an unprecedented 25th Grand Slam title.
