Novak Djokovic fought back from his worst-ever start to a match at Wimbledon to defeat Alex de Minaur in the last 16 of the 2025 Championships.
The seven-time Wimbledon winner prevailed 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 against world No 11 de Minaur after three hours and 19 minutes on Centre Court.
De Minaur broke a struggling Djokovic three times en route to winning the first set in just 31 minutes.
The 26-year-old Australian made history with this scoreline as Djokovic had never previously lost an opening set 6-1 or 6-0 in a match at Wimbledon.
Djokovic twice surrendered a break advantage in the second set, but a third break in the seventh game was decisive as he levelled the match.
The 38-year-old Serbian secured the only break of the third set in the ninth game, but he looked on the brink of being pushed to a fifth set.
The world No 6 crucially saved a break point at 1-4, 30-40 in the fourth set before winning five straight games to complete a battling victory.
In his on-court interview, Djokovic said: “I don’t know how I’m feeling to be honest. I’m still trying to process the whole match and what happened on the court. It wasn’t a great start for me, it was a great start for Alex de Minaur obviously.
“He broke my serve three times in the first set. We had very windy and swirly conditions on court. He was just managing the play better from the back of the court and I didn’t have many solutions, to be honest.
“I kind of reset myself in the second set. It was a tough game to close out the second set and I think that was maybe a momentum shift where I felt I was back in the game. There was a lot of cat and mouse play. There were a lot of slices and he is so good at that.
“He is one of the quickest players, if not the quickest player, we have on the tour. On the grass, where the ball bounces very low, it is extremely difficult to play someone like him if you’re not feeling the ball really well. He exposes all of your weaknesses.
“I was very pleased to hang in tough in the right moments and win this one.”
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Djokovic, who was seen holding and applying ice to his stomach, brushed off concerns when asked about the issue.
“No, no, no. It was all good,” he insisted. “Just trying to manage sometimes the breathing, obviously, after 30-plus shots rallies from back of the court, you need a breather and don’t have much time, so maybe that was the case.”
Asked about the difference between winning comfortably as he had in the previous rounds and surviving a tough match like this, Djokovic said: “Well, I obviously love winning in straights, to be honest, if I can.
“But on the days like this, as you progress in the tournament, the matches are only gonna get tougher.
“Alex has been an established top 10, top 15 player for the last couple of years, and he’s very tough to play against on this surface. I’ve never faced him on this surface, so I was slightly more nervous coming into this match and that reflected in my game in the first set.
“It was a very difficult encounter, a lot of challenging moments for me. Sometimes I wish I had a serve and volley and a nice touch from the gentleman that is standing right there (gestures towards Roger Federer in the crowd), that would help (smiles).
“But hey, I can’t complain. But I still have to run a lot and that’s fine. It’s part of my game. I was trying to mix it up.
“I didn’t feel the ball so well in the first set, but as the match progressed, I was getting used to conditions and his pace. And I was starting to find my forehands and making more winners from that corner.”
The 24-time major winner finished the interview by addressing what it is like to play in front of his former rival Federer.
“Well, I mean it’s probably the first time he’s watching me and I won the match. The last couple I lost, so good to break the curse (laughs),” Djokovic joked.
“It’s great, obviously. Great to have Roger, huge champion and someone that I admired and respected. We shared the stage for so many years and it’s great to have him back in his most successful and his favourite tournament, no doubt.”
Djokovic will face world No 24 Flavio Cobolli in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon after the 23-year-old Italian downed Marin Cilic 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-6(3). He is aiming to tie Federer’s record of eight Wimbledon men’s singles titles.
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