‘Old man’ Djoko prevails in record five-hour Wimbledon epic
LONDON—Side to side. Corner to corner. Novak Djokovic kept pushing Felix Auger-Aliassime back and forth along the Centre Court baseline at Wimbledon to retrieve one shot after another.
Finally, on the 22nd shot of a grueling rally deep in a fifth-set super tiebreaker, Auger-Aliassime had a forehand in the middle of the court. Under normal circumstances, it might have been just the shot he was looking for.
Not this time. Not after five hours of battling with the 39-year-old Djokovic.
Auger-Aliassime, a 25-year-old Canadian with one of the top-rated forehands on tour, had nothing left in his tank. He sprayed his forehand wide to give Djokovic a 9-4 lead. Then both players bent over in exhaustion and leaned on their rackets. Djokovic, while he was bent over, still found energy to encourage the crowd to cheer louder, waving his right arm for more noise.
Longest quarterfinal
One point later, the longest quarterfinal in Wimbledon history—at 5 hours and 15 minutes—was finished.
“These,” Djokovic said, “are the kind of moments that I still play tennis for.”
Djokovic, the seven-time Wimbledon champion, prevailed, 7-6 (10), 3-6, 6-3, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), on Tuesday to set up a semifinal against defending champion Jannik Sinner.
“I’m still able to battle these young guys that have 15 years less than me,” Djokovic said. “I’m able to beat them at the tightest possible scoreline … In a sense, it is really a nice surprise. But at the same time, I always have the highest expectations for myself.”
Djokovic continues to break records as he chases a 25th Grand Slam title. He’s reached a record-setting eighth consecutive Wimbledon final four—moving him one ahead of Roger Federer for most consecutive men’s singles semifinal appearances at the grass-court tournament.
“We know, because we’ve seen him so much, but it’s so impressive that he does it time and time again,” Auger-Aliassime said.
