Djokovic overcomes poor start to reach Wimbledon quarters

LONDON (AP) — Novak Djokovic overcame an uncharacteristically unsteady start to avoid what would have been his earliest exit at Wimbledon since 2016, coming through for a 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory over 11th-seeded Alex de Minaur in the fourth round Monday.

With Roger Federer, an eight-time Wimbledon winner, sitting in the front row of the Royal Box, so little went right at the outset for the 38-year-old Djokovic on the grass below during a breezy afternoon with the temperature in the 60s Fahrenheit (teens Celsius), a week after matches were contested in record-breaking heat.

But Djokovic turned things around enough to grab the middle two sets and then really took control after trailing 4-1 in the fourth. He won the last five games and 14 of the final 15 points.

His bid for an eighth Wimbledon title and 25th Grand Slam singles trophy overall will continue against No. 22 Flavio Cobolli of Italy. Cobolli reached his first major quarterfinal with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3) victory over 2014 U.S. Open champion and two-time major runner-up Marin Cilic.

Djokovic will be appearing in his 63rd Slam quarterfinal.

Against de Minaur, he made mistake after mistake, double-faulting four times in the first set alone. By match’s end, he had faced a hard-to-believe 19 break points.

After entering with 41 holds in 42 service games in the tournament, Djokovic was broken in five of his first seven against de Minaur, a 26-year-old Australian who was supposed face the Serb in last year’s quarterfinals at Wimbledon but withdrew with an injured hip.

Despite producing merely four clean winners of his own in the opening set, de Minaur accumulated nearly twice as many points as Djokovic, 27-14. That’s because Djokovic contributed a whopping 16 unforced errors.

“I can’t remember when I’ve seen him play a worse set than this,” John McEnroe, who won Wimbledon three times in the 1980s, said on the BBC telecast. “I mean, it’s literally been years.”

All in all, Djokovic was discombobulated, chalking it up afterward to nerves. He rushed between points. He reacted to flubbed shots by rolling his eyes or shouting and glaring in the direction of his guest box or putting his arms wide as if seeking explanations from someone, anyone.

At changeovers, he placed an ice-filled towel — usually wrapped around necks by players in steamy conditions — on his stomach, which he complained about during his first-round victory last week. But afterward, Djokovic dismissed the significance of that.

This could have been Djokovic’s soonest setback at Wimbledon since he was eliminated in the third round by Sam Querrey nine years ago. That one was even more shocking, because it ended Djokovic’s 30-match Grand Slam winning streak, which included championships at the preceding four major tournaments in a row, making him the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold each of those trophies simultaneously.

Djokovic won his men’s-record 24th major title at the 2023 U.S. Open.

He’s come close to raising his total, finishing as the runner-up to Carlos Alcaraz at Wimbledon last year — the second consecutive time they met in the final, with the results the same — and departing each of the first two Slams of 2025 in the semifinals: he stopped with a hurt hamstring at the Australian Open in January and lost to No. 1 Jannik Sinner at the French Open last month.

No man as old as Djokovic is now has won a major championship.

He keeps showing why it's not preposterous to think he could, though, such as his diving volley winner earlier in the tournament or the way Djokovic broke to lead 2-1 in the second set on a 35-stroke exchange Monday. He put his right index finger to his ear and waved his arms to ask for noise from the spectators.

The comeback officially was on, and soon enough, he was closing the third set with a winner to cap a 27-shot point.

By the very end, it's almost as though de Minaur was resigned to defeat, knowing he's only the latest — and perhaps not the last — opponent to succumb to a surging Djokovic.

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis