
Djokovic joins Federer in exclusive Wimbledon men's club
Milestone met. The journey continues…
Novak Djokovic has become just the 3rd player to record 100 match-wins at Wimbledon, after 9-time champion Martina Navratilova and 8-time champion Roger Federer 🌱#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/5pEXE0pE4t
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 5, 2025
'Very historic, it sounds very nice,' he said. 'Tennis made me who I am, it has given me incredible things in life so I try not to take anything for granted, especially at my age and trying to compete with the younger players.
'Wimbledon is a favourite tournament, not just for myself but for most players. Any history I make at my favourite tournament, I'm blessed.'
Apart from being broken when he served for the match, it was a pretty routine display for the seven-time champion, although one spectacular diving backhand volleyed winner after a lung-busting rally will make the highlights reel.
Novak Djokovic, left, hugs compatriot Miomir Kecmanovic (Mike Egerton/PA)
'It was kind of like an ecstasy, to be honest, in that moment,' added Djokovic.
'Yeah, I was super, super happy. It came at a really important moment as well. I think 4-3, deuce, long point.
'We both were running around each other, around the whole court. Then just that diving backhand volley down-the-line passing shot. Can't wait to see the highlights.'
That shot thrilled the Saturday SW19 crowd and a host of sports glitterati in the Royal Box including Sir Geoff Hurst, Sir Steve Redgrave and Lord Botham.
The Centre Court punters could be forgiven for feeling a little short-changed, however, after three one-sided contests.
Certainly the 11pm curfew was never in danger after Jannik Sinner dropped just five games against Pedro Martinez and Iga Swiatek beat Danielle Collins in straight sets, before Djokovic disposed of his 25-year-old countryman in an hour and 47 minutes.
Djokovic, bidding for a record 25th grand slam title, will face Australian 11th seed Alex De Minaur in his 17th appearance in the last 16 at Wimbledon.

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The Herald Scotland
26 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Novak Djokovic reaches Wimbledon quarters after recovery
Djokovic cannot have played many worse sets at Wimbledon than the opening one here, with the Serbian making 16 unforced errors, including four double faults and dropping serve three times. It is the sixth time Djokovic has lost a set 6-1 at the All England Club but the first time he has done so in the first set. The 38-year-old, playing in front of his old rival Roger Federer in the front row of the Royal Box, can be a slow starter and he did not panic, immediately breaking the De Minaur serve at the start of the second set. At the end of the contest, Djokovic said with a smile: 'Sometimes I wish I had the serve and volley and nice touch from the gentleman that is standing right there. That would help.' The next game took nearly 19 minutes, with De Minaur finally getting the break back on his sixth chance, only for Djokovic to move ahead again immediately – winning a 34-shot rally, putting his finger to his ear and trying to whip up the crowd. Djokovic and De Minaur were supposed to meet in the quarter-finals last year only for the Australian to be forced to withdraw ahead of the match because of a hip injury. The 26-year-old has been one of the most consistent players on the ATP Tour but trying to pull off big wins at grand slams has been akin to banging his head against a wall, with De Minaur never having gone beyond the last eight. Read more: Cheered on by fiancee Katie Boulter, back he came to 3-3 only to immediately drop serve once more, and the key moments of the match arguably came in the final game of the set, when the 11th seed twice had a chance to level once more. But De Minaur could not take either and Djokovic roared in celebration when he clinched the game. There were still challenging moments, but a break in the ninth game of the third set pushed Djokovic into the lead for the first time, and he recovered from 4-1 down to win the fourth. The sixth seed admitted he had been nervous coming into the match having never faced De Minaur on grass before. 'It wasn't a great start for me,' he said. 'It was a great start for him, obviously. Very windy, very swirly conditions on the court. I didn't have many solutions but I kind of reset myself in the second. 'Tough game to close out the second set, that was maybe a momentum shift. A lot of cat and mouse play. He's so good at it. It's tough when you're not feeling the ball that well. He exposes all your weaknesses. I'm very pleased to hang in tough at the right moments and win this match.' Next up, Djokovic finds an unexpected quarter-finalist facing him in the shape of Italian 22nd seed Flavio Cobolli. The 23-year-old dropped his first set of the tournament but saw off former finalist Marin Cilic 6-4 6-4 6-7 (4) 7-6 (3).


The Independent
26 minutes ago
- The Independent
Roger Federer sits in Wimbledon's Royal Box to watch rival Novak Djokovic win
Roger Federer was back at Wimbledon, and back at Centre Court, on Monday — only this time, he was there to watch some tennis, not play it, at a place he won a men's-record eight championships. The now-retired Federer sat in the Royal Box for his former rival Novak Djokovic 's 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Alex de Minaur in the fourth round at the All England Club. Djokovic already surpassed Federer's total of 20 Grand Slam singles titles and has gotten to 24, the most by a man in tennis history. Now Djokovic is trying to equal Federer by winning an eighth trophy at the grass-court major tournament. And, make no mistake, the 38-year-old Djokovic definitely noticed who was sitting in the front row Monday. 'Obviously, great to have Roger. A huge, huge champion and someone that I've admired and respected a lot,' Djokovic said. 'We've shared the stage for so many years and it's great to have him back in his most successful and his favorite tournament, no doubt.' They played each other 50 times, with Djokovic leading the head-to-head by 27-23. The two of them and Andy Murray recently gathered at the French Open and appeared at the ceremony honoring Rafael Nadal's career there. Wearing a dark tie and a blue suit — pinned to a lapel was one of the round purple badges that champions receive to note their status as club members — Federer was greeted by a loud round of applause as he entered the box with his wife, Mirka. Federer, who turns 44 on Aug. 8, waved to the 15,000 or so other spectators. His won his first Wimbledon title — which was also his first Grand Slam title —- in 2003. His last Wimbledon trophy came in 2017. Two years after that, Federer returned to the final at the All England Club and even held two championship points but lost to Djokovic in a fifth-set tiebreaker. What turned out to be the last match of Federer's professional career came at Wimbledon in 2021, when he lost in the quarterfinals to Hubert Hurkacz. It wasn't until more than a year later that Federer announced he was done competing. He shows up every so often at tournaments and sits in the stands, observing. 'It's probably the first time he's watched me and I won the match. The last couple I lost,' Djokovic said. 'So, good to break the curse.' ___ Associated Press writer Mattias Karén contributed to this report. ___


The Guardian
29 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Novak Djokovic teases crowd and De Minaur before reaching quarter-finals
Novak Djokovic won his 101st match at Wimbledon and advanced to his eighth consecutive quarter-final at SW19. Not that this was enough for the Serbian all-timer. In an act of grand generosity, he threw away the first set to his challenger Alex de Minaur, granting a rapt Centre Court crowd a rare moment of jeopardy at one of his matches. The seven-time Wimbledon singles champion was broken three times in the first set by the Australian 12 years his junior. His game was all over the place. In that short window it was possible to imagine a world in which decent, well-rounded challengers such as De Minaur might come into these matches with hope of something other than chastening defeat. It was a nice thought while it lasted. Everyone at this tennis sanctum knows better than to discount Djokovic, of course, at any point in a match. Even after such a disembodied display in the opening half hour the projected outcome was still success for the 38-year-old, and so it duly proved. The errors sharply declined, as if he had had a strong word with himself internally. The quality of his serve rose with each game to the point that it was the decisive weapon in the third set. The fourth was a dogfight after going 3-0 down but Djokovic got his teeth into the contest and held on until De Minaur submitted. Next up is the Italian No 22 seed Flavio Cobolli. With Roger Federer watching on and the crowd largely sitting on their hands waiting for a reason to get behind Djokovic there was an air of expectancy as the players emerged. Djokovic, however, then set about instantly letting the air out of the balloon, managing 16 unforced errors in the first set, nearly as many as in his entire third round match against Miomir Kecvanovic. He kept missing his marks, dropping shots into the net and looked slow on the turn. His serve was stinking too, with two double faults in the opening game alone. For De Minaur, meanwhile, the world looked very much like his oyster. The 11th seed was dynamic, agile and smart. He could keep up with Djokovic's power easily enough but could also read his range, responding to the lobs, drop shots and switches of side sharply. He bossed the longer rallies. His own error count was low and he bounced his way into the second set. The question was whether he could keep it up. The crowd, to this point, had been most vocal when mocking the errant line calls from the AI system (shots in reply to faulty serves were still being called 'out'). But now there were some stilted attempts to make 'let's go Novak, let's go' a thing. Maybe Djokovic responded to this or maybe he just pulled out the script from his mind palace that reminded him of what he has always done in moments of adversity. He doubled down and turned the screw; the very first point of the second set was a blitz of furious stroke-making and Djokovic earned a break of serve at the first time of asking. To De Minaur's credit he broke back straight away, but this was an arduous affair of seven deuces. Djokovic then stepped up and broke again. A second huge effort brought De Minaur level again but at 3-3 Djokovic broke him once more, this time to love and with the winning shot a delightful backhand slice across court that left the younger man frozen on his feet. As Djokovic closed out the second set to level things up the familiar sense of inevitability began to rise. The third set went with serve for 10 games, but the sense of De Minaur having to scramble just to keep up was growing. This was in no small part due to the increasing relentlessness of the Djokovic serve; from a first-serve accuracy of 48% in the first set he was now hitting 80% in the third. At the crucial juncture of four-all and with increasingly little room for error, the pressure finally told on De Minaur. Djokovic won a scintillating rally at 15-30 with a jaw-dropping volley on the slide back across himself, and then De Minaur delivered a gift of a loose forehand to seal the break. A couple more errors from De Minaur and the third set was gone. Djokovic took his foot off the pedal for a moment and De Minaur stole a break of serve. He held it too, for a service game at least. At 4-2 it was all on the line and De Minaur found his best level for a final time, holding Djokovic to account in the rallies. It wasn't enough, though. By now Djokovic was hitting so well that he didn't need to find a winner, just gradually, incrementally turn up the pressure in his favour. And so 4-2 became 4-3 then 4-4. In the blink of an eye Djokovic broke again, served out the match, flattered Federer in the stands then was off back to the dressing room. It was almost as if the drama of two hours earlier had never happened.