Novak Djokovic, 37, is playing his first tournament since the drama that befell him at the last Roland Garros. A month ago, one of the ATP’s leading veterans won two five-set matches in a row on the Parisian courts, after which he failed to reach the quarter-finals alongside Norwegian Casper Ruud. The Serb was forced to withdraw from the French Slam due to a meniscus injury, which subsequently required surgery.
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After the operation, Djokovic’s performance in the English capital was in doubt for a long time. Some experts even advised Novak to stop playing on grass so as not to tempt fate before returning to clay at the next Olympics. Many tennis players and much younger players dropped out of the Paris Games to avoid constantly switching from one surface to another and not risk their health, but Djokovic took a risk and decided to play first at Wimbledon, and then also compete for Olympic gold. After all, winning the main Olympic prize remains the key goal in Novak’s career.
In London, Djokovic is gaining ground match by match, gradually showing an ever-increasing level of tennis. If at the beginning of the tournament, especially in the second round match with Briton Jacob Fearnley, the current state of the Serbian record holder caused great concern, in the last match Novak showed a close to optimal level of tennis in a meeting with Danish Holger Rune. The Serb took the initiative from the first game, immediately unleashing a series of 12 winning moves and managing to throw his opponent off balance. Rune then had several opportunities to change the course of the match, but in the end Djokovic won a super convincing victory 6:3, 6:4, 6:2.
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Thanks to this success, the Serbian achieved several more interesting achievements. This is Djokovic’s fifteenth appearance in the Wimbledon quarter-finals overall and seventh in a row. As for the number of appearances in the quarter-finals of the English Slam, he took second place in history, surpassing Craig Connors (14). The record here is still held by the Swiss Roger Federer (18).
Novak also became the first tennis player in history to play in the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam for the 60th time. He reached this stage of the Slam for the 14th time in a row, and the last time he was eliminated before that was at the US Open – 2020. Moreover, it cannot be said that Novak was defeated four years ago. In that match against the Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta, the Serbian tennis player was disqualified in the first set for hitting the umpire’s line with the ball. Otherwise, Novak’s impressive streak of reaching the TBS quarter-finals would have been even more impressive.
Novak Djokovic
Photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images
Next up, the Serbian will play Australian Alex de Minaur. Djokovic leads the head-to-head matches 2-1, but this season the rivals have exchanged victories and their first head-to-head match on grass awaits them. Novak has astonishing statistics on this surface: 119 wins in 138 games! Alex has 33 wins on grass and suffered 17 losses.
This season, De Minaur reached the quarter-finals of an English Slam for the first time in his career, making history in Australian tennis. The 25-year-old De Minaur became only the third Australian in the Open era since 1968 to reach the quarter-finals of a major on three surfaces, after Patrick Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt.
In 2024, the Sydney native will be playing the most consistent tennis of his life. Alex made his TBS debut in 2017 and before this season he had only made the Slam quarterfinals once. Curiously, this happened precisely at the 2020 US Open, when Djokovic was disqualified. This year, de Minaur has already made two Slam quarterfinal appearances.
Alex de Minaur
Photo: Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images
A month ago, he reached the quarter-finals of Roland Garros for the first time, managing to defeat Russian Daniil Medvedev in the fourth round match. In that match, Alex lost in a serious fight in the first set, but then won the next three games, losing only six games: 4:6, 6:2, 6:1, 6:3.
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The Australian athlete failed to reach the semi-finals of RG 2024; in the quarter-finals he lost to the future finalist of the tournament, German Alexander Zverev. But 11 days later, Alex won the ninth title of his career, winning the grass-court tournament in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. Now De Minaur faces a test against Djokovic at Wimbledon.
“Alex and I played on different surfaces a couple of times this year. Now we will play on grass for the first time. He is one of the fastest players, if not the fastest, on the circuit. I will have to run a bit. But I still enjoy running, at 37 years old. So everything is fine,” Djokovic said about the upcoming fight.
Novak has reached the TBS semi-finals 48 times, reached the final 36 times and won 24 trophies. The fight for the 49th place in the top four in Cascos will not be easy for the Serb. Under optimal conditions, Novak would definitely be considered the undisputed favourite. He remains the favourite, but the Serb’s health and form are likely to cause concern among his fans.
Even in a very successful encounter with Rune in the third set, Novak began to have more and more problems approaching the ball: in one of the rallies, the Serb ended up on the grass twice, and each of these falls now makes him look with alarm at how his knee will react. But if Djokovic’s health does not fail him in the quarterfinals, then the quest for the 25th Slam should continue.
