That was physically – and above all mentally – a hard piece of work: Novak Djokovic reached the quarter -finals at the tennis tournament in Wimbledon, but had to struggle very much with both and Alex de Minaur. The Serb defeated the Australian in four sets 1: 6, 6: 4, 6: 4, 6: 4. Rarely is one of his now 101 successes in London have been as relieved as this.
Djokovic made a catastrophic start – especially for his conditions. With several mistakes, the old master immediately enabled his opponent to break the match – and even after that it didn’t get any better. The bad numbers of the first round of Djokovic: 48 percent first surcharges, four double errors, only 38 percent of the points won with their own service and 16 casual errors. And the most important thing: De Minaur won 6: 1.
Break Festival between Djokovic and de Minaur
At the start of the second round, Djokovic seemed to be back, he immediately took the serve off his opponent. But then a totally grass-atypical match developed. After a 19-minute marathon game, De Minaur succeeded in the rebreak, then the Serb struck again, but a little later Djokovic collected the 3: 3 again the rebreak and then removed the surcharge again.
His ex-coach Boris Becker had won in Wimbledon for the day exactly 40 years ago-and as for his ex-coach, the Center is his “living room”, Djokovic has never made a secret that the lawnGrand Slam is his favorite tournament. It was all the more surprising how many problems of the seven -time champion had.
Novak Djokovic repeatedly scolded Alex de Minaur during the game.
De Minaur brought almost every ball back and repeatedly provoked Djokovic’s strange decisions. Although the 38-year-old wobbled on the net, he often played Service and Volley in break balls and failed. But in the end it was noticeable that a powerful game on lawn has higher chances of success than a strong defensive – and so Djokovic won the second set 6: 4 despite several frustrating moments.
Djokovic scolds, but still creates the leadership management
Even after that, there was practically no smooth service game on both sides, de Minaur still annoyed his opponents with his counter game. The long rallies from nine strokes in particular mostly went to the Australian in the previous match course (over 70 percent). Djokovic obviously angry and scolded loudly, but it remained – unlike in the second set – everything in the row.
Alex de Minaur showed his class as a defensive player – even if it wasn’t enough in the end.
That changed at the booth of 4: 4 – in favor of Djokovic. At the right moment, the world ranking in the first time won a long rally for the first time and secured two break balls, the second of which he used because de Minaur made one of his very few mistakes. And because Djokovic was now very stable and strong, he continued harmlessly and also won the third set 6: 4.
De minaur starts strongly in the fourth set
De Minaur continued to be an enormously tough opponent, who also played a high level, although he did not have the weapons like his opponent. However, if Djokovic declined something, the number eleven of the seed list immediately hit – it was in the fourth round. De Minaur took the lead 3-0 and threatened a decisive fifth set.
The game resembled the first round when the Slice of the Australian Djokovic brought about the mind. Again and again the outsider hit the parts of the field near the baseline where the lawn has already been played, accordingly frequently jumped or slipped the balls regularly. Djokovic bit himself, stayed on striking distance and then struck the rebreak to 3: 4 – and he no longer left de Minaur out of the bracket handle.
Djokovic shows Champion character
Djokovic had the victory in mind again and showed that his opponents were almost no chance. The Serb held its surcharge, Bracte de Minaur for the second time in a row and then served to win the match. After 3:18 nerve -wracking hours, the game ended, the 101st victory in Wimbledon was for Djokovic, who meets Flavio Cobolli in the quarterfinals, then above all a great relief. After the last ball change, he did not cheer, but only after the hand shake with his opponent and chair referee.
“I don’t know how to feel. I didn’t have a good start and hardly any solutions. But I was able to reset myself and in the second sentence I noticed that I was back in the match”said Djokovic. “Alex is perhaps the fastest player on the tour, his slice is very difficult to play, he shows you your weaknesses. I had many challenging moments and I am happy that I still won.”