Novak Djokovic overcame a volatile start that was not characteristically shaky to avoid his earliest exit at Wimbledon since 2016, achieving a 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, in the fourth round of Monday at 11th seed Alex de Minaur.
Djokovic, who won seven of his 24 Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon, advanced to the 63rd major quarter final. However, for the 38 year old, it was rare to go straight to the first.
“Many challenging moments for me,” Djokovic said right after the victory, then called “a big, big relief” that wasn’t pushed into the fifth set later.
After winning 41 holds in 42 service games in the tournament, Djokovic broke five of his first seven against De Minaurus, a 26-year-old Australian who faced the Serbs in last year’s quarterfinals at Wimbledon, but withdrew with an injured hip.
Djokovic made 16 powerful errors in the first set alone and lost in 31 minutes. Before Monday, Djokovic never won under two games in the opening set at Wimbledon.
“I can’t remember seeing him play a worse set than this,” said John McEnroe, a three-time Wimbledon winner in the 1980s, on the BBC TV broadcast. “I mean, it’s been literally years.”
However, Djokovic turned things around on the central set, and then he said he viewed the second end as a change of momentum.
He really surged in the end after kicking him out 4-1 in fourth place. He scored 14 of his final five games and 15 points, saving breakpoints to avoid going down 5-1.
“I’ve taken him level,” De Minauer said, “Big Time.”
Djokovic was clearly at an early age as he responded to the hanging shots by running through the points, rolling his eyes, and increasing his arms as if to get some explanation from someone else.
“To be honest, I didn’t have many solutions,” Djokovic said.
In the changeover, he placed a towel filled with ice – usually wrapped around his neck by the player in a sultry state – he was pissed off in his stomach. But then Djokovic dismissed its importance.
“A lot of cats and rat play, a lot of slices,” he said of the kind of play of De Minaur. “If you don’t feel the ball very well, it’s very difficult to play someone like him.”
This was Djokovic’s 101st career match victory at Wimbledon, tied his biggest (101 years old) in either major. This also tied to winning matches fourth in one major in the open era.
“I mean, De Minaur summed up: “He’s pretty good for big moments for a very long time.”
Based on the age of the final day of the tournament, Djokovic is the third oldest man in the open era, reaching the quarterfinals of Roger Federer in 2021, after Ken Rose Wall in 1974.
Federer and the eight-time All England Club champions were able to sit in the Royal Box and watch Djokovic’s match on Centre Court.
“It was probably the first time he’d seen me, and I won the match. The last couple I’ve lost,” Djokovic said. “That’s why it’s good to break the curse.”
Djokovic currently has 43 of his last 45 matches at Wimbledon, not since 2017 and has not missed the final. The two losses were against champion Carlos Alcaraz in the last two championship matches.
His bids across the 8th Wimbledon title and the 25th Grand Slam Singles Trophy will continue against Italy’s 22nd Flavio Koboli.
Koboli reached his first major quarter final with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3) victory over 2014 US Open champions and two runner-up Marine Silick.
Koboli’s season got off to a rocky start as he lost seven consecutive tour-level matches in the United Cup final game via the Miami Open. However, he has been rolling since winning 20 of his last 27 tour-level matches, including two ATP titles in Bucharest and Hamburg during the European clay court swing.
ESPN research, Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
