Serbia’s Novak Djokovic celebrates after victory over Australia’s Alex De Minaur throughout their males’s singles fourth spherical tennis match on the eighth day of the 2025 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Garden Tennis and Croquet Membership in Wimbledon, southwest London, on July 7, 2025. (Picture by Adrian Dennis / AFP)
Novak Djokovic mentioned it was “good to interrupt the curse” in entrance of Roger Federer after recovering from a set right down to beat Alex de Minaur and attain his sixteenth Wimbledon quarterfinal on Monday.
Djokovic was torpid and unusually tentative within the early phases of his last-16 match in opposition to the Australian eleventh seed on Centre Court docket, however finally discovered his rhythm to win 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.
READ: Wimbledon: Novak Djokovic, Jannik Sinner on collision course
“It is most likely the primary time he is watched me and I received the match.”
Novak Djokovic is relieved to get a win in entrance of Roger Federer 😅#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/Q6H1G1p91p
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 7, 2025
It retains the seven-time champion on observe for a record-breaking twenty fifth Grand Slam title, which might be the crowning achievement of an astonishing profession.
If he wins the crown on Sunday, the 38-year-old Serb would additionally draw degree with Federer’s file of eight males’s titles on the All England Membership.
Retired Swiss nice Federer watched from the royal field as his long-time rival was given his hardest take a look at of the event to date.
“It’s most likely the primary time he’s watching me and I’ve received the match,” mentioned Djokovic. “The final couple I misplaced, so good to interrupt the curse.
“No, it’s nice, clearly, nice to have Roger, an enormous champion and somebody that I admired and revered rather a lot.
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“We shared the stage for thus a few years, and it’s nice to have him again.”
Sixth seed Djokovic was damaged within the first recreation and conceded two extra breaks as De Minaur ran away with the primary set.
The Serb dedicated 16 unforced errors, together with 4 double faults within the opener.
Djokovic broke instantly at first of the second set however then grew to become slowed down in a recreation lasting practically 19 minutes, which De Minaur received on his sixth break level.
Each gamers struggled to carry onto their serve in an attritional battle however Djokovic, pleading for help from the group, held his nerve to degree the match, letting out a roar as De Minaur went lengthy.
READ: Wimbledon: Novak Djokovic hits century mark, into fourth spherical
The third set went with serve till the ninth recreation, when De Minaur skewed a forehand broad to concede the essential break.
De Minaur discovered new inspiration within the fourth set, surging right into a 4-1 lead however crumbled on the pivotal second as Djokovic fought again, reeling off 5 video games in a row to seal the win in three hours and 18 minutes.
“I’m nonetheless making an attempt to course of the entire match and what occurred on the court docket,” he mentioned. “It wasn’t an awesome begin for me, it was an awesome begin for him clearly.
“I used to be simply more than happy to hold in robust in the suitable moments and win this one.”
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Djokovic’s tally of 16 Wimbledon quarter-finals is second solely to Federer’s whole of 18 in males’s tennis.
He’ll play Italian twenty second seed Flavio Cobolli within the final eight, with a possible semi-final looming in opposition to world primary Jannik Sinner.
