05-07-2025
Novak Djokovic turns back time and brings up Wimbledon century in style with ruthless win over Miomir Kecmanovic
It was on the fourth deuce in the eighth game of the opening set when a 38-year-old man flew through the air and convinced everyone on Centre Court they must have gone back in time.
Novak Djokovic has a way, even amid the fading light of his passing years, of making you wonder whether time really does catch up with all of us eventually after all.
At the end of a scintillating rally of drop shots, lobs, smashes and volleys, Miomir Kecmanovic raced forward and poked a forehand down the line, certain the point was his. Djokovic leapt to his left, stuck out a hand and the ball back beyond his fellow Serb to win the point.
Djokovic sat there, almost in his own state of disbelief, while the Centre Court crowd rose to their feet to applaud him as they have done so many times over the years.
He went on to break Kecmanovic's serve and, it seemed, his spirit. Djokovic broke to lead 5-3 and rarely looked back. Kecmanovic won just four further games in the match as Djokovic wrapped up the win 6-3, 6-0, 6-4.
The only wobble came at the end where he somehow dropped serve at 5-1 and then lost the following game to love before eventually getting over the line. Still, what a way to bring up your 100th Wimbledon victory of your career.
'It is a privilege to be in the position I am,' said Djokovic. 'I have said it many times, tennis has given me incredible things in life. I try not to take it for granted, at this age, still going strong and trying to complete with younger players and trying to do some slides and splits on the court!'
Before the tournament began, Djokovic was asked whether this run at Wimbledon might be his last dance across this grass, a surface on which he's triumphed seven times.
On this showing, surely not. He said he wants to play for years to come and when you move like this around the court, why on earth would you stop.
All the shots came out, all the old moves. Djokovic sent a fizzing drop shot over the net, that stopped dead in its tracks, to secure the second set to love, the 51st bagel of his Grand Slam career. No one has more. He hit 60 winners and 16 aces, and ran further than an opponent 13 years his junior.
And yet after all his heroics, it was his seven-year-old daughter Tara who stole the show. Djokovic celebrated the win by pumping his fists in multiple directions as he has all tournament before explaining it was in tribute to a song his daughter liked so Tara then showed off her moves to the crowd.
Djokovic has reached the last six finals on this great old court, losing the last two to Carlos Alcaraz, and you would be a brave soul to bet against him getting to another. He's reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open and French Open already this year.
If he is to do so, however, he will likely need to get past Jannik Sinner in the semi-final, something he was unable to do at Roland Garros.
The world No1 reached the fourth round yesterday with a straight sets win over Pedro Martinez.
If you are to stand any chance of beating Sinner, it helps if you have the use of both shoulders.
As other top seeds tumble around him, Sinner has planted himself firmly into the soil of Centre Court and it will take more than an injured Pedro Martinez to uproot him. It might take Djokovic.
The Spanish world No52 was never likely to cause Sinner too many concerns but an injury to his shoulder, one that required treatment over two medical timeouts, meant he served so slowly, some first serves as slow as 76mph, that the number one seed almost had time to retie his shoelaces before thundering back his returns.
'We all saw was struggling with the shoulder,' said Sinner. 'It was for sure easier to return his serve.'
And so Sinner breezed through yet another match on the Wimbledon grass, this time 6-1, 6-3, 6-1, is yet to drop a set, yet to have his serve broken and has conceded just 17 games across his three victories, fewer than any top seed here after three matches in Open Era history.
Bjorn Borg's Grand Slam record of dropping just 32 en route to his 1978 French Open title is in serious danger. That is, of course, unless Djokovic gets to him first.