By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday July 6, 2024
Djokovic survived another three-hour encounter, defeating Alexei Popyrin to reach the round of 16.
Photo Source: Rob Newell/ Camera Sport
After dropping the opening set of his third-round match to Alexei Popyrin, Novak Djokovic did what he has done so effectively over the course of his illustrious career.
Closed the door, shut all the windows and left Popyrin no way out.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion showed some of his best tennis of these Championships and rallied for his 95th career Wimbledon win, 4-6 6-3 6-4 7-6(3), to book a round or 16 clash with Holger Rune.
It was the type of confidence-building exercise that Djokovic needs at this point in the tournament. Something to give him the belief that he can match the physicality of the opponents he will be facing in the second week, starting with the 21-year-old Dane, who rallied from two sets down to defeat France’s Quentin Halys on Saturday.
“It was a very challenging match today, mentally as well, to hang in there and not allow any concentration lapses,” Djokovic said. “I think I’ve done well in that regard, and I think it reflected well in the tiebreak – that was one of the best tiebreaks I played this year, that’s for sure.”
After struggling to gain full comfort with his surgically repaired right knee in his first two matches, Djokovic said he felt better again today.
“I think each match is getting better,” he said. “My confidence in my movement, particularly on the extreme balls, reaching and sliding, I definitely felt better today than I have in the second round match, so hopefully the trajectory will keep going in a positive way, and as the tournament progresses each match I will feel better.”
He demonstrated this confidence across the final three sets, as he played with attack and ferocity against Popyrin – he hit 46 winners and made just 14 unforced errors across the final three sets and finished with a pitch-perfect tiebreak to end the evening on a high note.
It’s exactly the type of tennis that the 24-time major champion will need next week, when the business end of this year’s men’s singles draw begins
If he can continue to progress, his chances of reaching the final will be good. Of the other seven players still remaining in his lower half of the draw, not a single one has been beyond the Wimbledon quarterfinals before. Experience favors the Grand Slam king, as it typically does, and he's right where he wants to be at Wimbledon, just four matches from a record 25th major title.
What seemed not just improbable, but impossible, on June 5th, when Djokovic announced that he had undergone surgery in Paris, has now come to fruition - count him out at your own peril.