Novak Djokovic was relieved to “break the curse” of playing in front of former rival Roger Federer as he battled back to overcome an inspired Alex de Minaur and reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals.
With men’s record eight-time winner Federer watching on from the Royal Box, Serbia’s Djokovic lost an error-strewn opener and had to fight back from 4-1 down in the fourth set to win 1-6 6-4 6-4 6-4.
But, after enduring an uncomfortable three hours and 18 minutes on Centre Court against Australian 11th seed De Minaur, the 38-year-old is now within three wins of another piece of history.
Seven-time champion Djokovic said of playing in front of Federer: “This is probably the first time he is watching me and I have won the match!
“The last couple of times I lost, so it’s good to break the curse.
“Roger is a huge champion and someone I admired and respected a lot.
“We shared the stage for many years and it is great to have him back at his most successful and favourite tournament.”
In addition to chasing Federer’s Wimbledon record, Djokovic is attempting to win a standalone record 25th Grand Slam title.
He will face Italian 22nd seed Flavio Cobolli for a semi-final place, with world number one Jannik Sinner potentially waiting in the last four.
Djokovic overcomes stern test to close in on history
It is not often that Djokovic – who has won 43 of his past 45 matches at Wimbledon – is made to endure such a stern test of his mental resilience on the stage he has dominated on over the past decade.
The sixth seed is through to a 16th Wimbledon quarter-final, second only to the 18 achieved by Federer, but at times it felt as though his progress was under threat.
In a puzzling first set, an out-of-sorts Djokovic had his serve broken three times by De Minaur as the Australian capitalised on his uncharacteristically messy start.
Djokovic was hampered by double faults, with two helping De Minaur go an immediate break up on Centre Court, before he recorded another on his way to going down 4-1.
It appeared he had already turned his attention to the second set when he was again broken to concede the first after 30 minutes on court – and that seemed to be confirmed when he broke his opponent’s serve in the first game.
But Djokovic’s struggles continued, with the Serb eventually falling to a sixth break point in a marathon second game to set the tone for a topsy-turvy second set.
Djokovic hinted at his improving level as he responded again, cupping his ear to the crowd after another exchange of breaks, but he still had to withstand two break points as he served out the set.
De Minaur stuck to his task, maintaining his high level to keep unsettling Djokovic, but it was the former world number one who found the breakthrough in the ninth game and landed a closing drop shot to complete the turnaround.
His revival was checked in the fourth set when the unfazed De Minaur went from saving a break point to seizing one on his way to taking a three-game advantage.
But Djokovic, having saved another break point to avoid going 5-1 down, finished with an impressive five-game streak to join Federer as one of only three men in the Open era to reach the last eight at Wimbledon over the age of 38.
“I don’t know how I’m feeling, to be honest. It wasn’t a great start for me,” Djokovic added.
“I was very pleased to hang in tough in the right moments and win this one.”
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