Novak Djokovic’s excellence at Wimbledon, and current dominance over the rest of the field there, was reflected in the two tiebreaks he snatched from Hubert Hurkacz in his fourth-round win.
The powerful Pole, who beat Roger Federer to make the Wimbledon semifinals in 2021, was serving like a dream and led 6-3 in the first-set tiebreak.
Djokovic promptly won five points in a row to take it, helped by four Hurkacz unforced errors.
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A second-set tiebreak followed, where Hurkacz scored a mini-break to lead 5-4, with two serves to come. Converting both those points on his fearsome serve meant the set was his.
But another unforced error, followed by a Djokovic passing shot, erased those chances, too. Djokovic won four of the next five points to take a commanding lead.
Play was suspended before 11pm on Sunday, in line with the Wimbledon curfew. When they returned on Monday, Hurkacz managed to win the third set, but couldn’t stop Djokovic easing to a four-set win.
The Serb has now won 14 consecutive tiebreaks at Grand Slam tournaments.
It was proof again that when matches arrive at their most important junctures, on one of the grandest stages in the sport, he seems unstoppable.
"What an aura he's created for himself,” former world No.8 Alicia Molik told ausopen.com prior to the tournament.
“Does anyone actually walk out there and believe they can beat him? It's actually scary, because I don't think we've ever had anyone in this position before in a men's Wimbledon, like, so far dominant.
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“And he's not even at risk of imploding, or having a bad day. His bad day is still a top-10 day. We expect him to breeze through.
“I mean, the guy is not young. That's what amazes me. Players do tend to have those couple of bad days; any player beyond 35, it's like the body isn't at 100 per cent ... the level drops really quickly. I don't feel like Novak ever has those (days).
“Probably the thing I'm looking forward to watching is the first week at Wimbledon, for Novak. Does he cruise? Or does he push himself to the limit of playing his best tennis?”
So far this year, we’ve seen a bit of both.
At times he was pushed, particularly against Jordan Thompson in round two, and at times we saw him drop the hammer, like in the first two sets against Stan Wawrinka in the third round. But he did not drop a set in the first week of the tournament.
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The third-set loss against Hurkacz was the first set Djokovic has conceded at Wimbledon since the first set of the 2022 final; he had won 14 consecutive sets in between.
He is 18-0 at the majors in 2023 and enters his quarterfinal match against Andrey Rublev with a 3-1 record over the Russian. He dominated their Australian Open 2023 quarterfinal, losing just seven games.
It will be an especially tough assignment for Rublev at Wimbledon, where Djokovic’s grass-court prowess separates him even further from the field.
Into a 14th Wimbledon quarterfinal, Djokovic moves closer to a fifth straight title at SW19.
More evidence for this dominance emerged on the eve of the tournament, showing he had won more matches at Wimbledon (86) than the rest of the ATP top 20 combined (85).
"Imagine how they feel (after seeing that stat)?” Molik said of Djokovic’s rivals.
“It's unbelievable. I saw his Instagram; it was only probably four or five days ago he was hitting on hard court. Clearly he would have been prepping and doing everything court-specific for grass. But that's how relaxed he is about it.
“Because he's got that confidence, it makes sense to (instead) hit on hard court at home (before coming to Wimbledon). No other player would be doing that, because they don't have that confidence, they've got to get as much grass-court practice in. That's the level of the guy.
"People take a month to adapt to grass; I reckon Novak would take one minute. Just, bang: shortens his backswing. Bang: hits it through. He knows, he feels it. He understands this surface.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: CURRENT WINNING STREAKS
| 43 | Matches won on Centre Court |
| 32 | Matches won at Wimbledon |
| 25 | Matches won at Grand Slams |
| 14 | Tiebreaks won at Grand Slams |
| 11 | Matches won |
"His footwork is incredible. Return (too). I often thought over the years we might see his game almost evolve more and him finding a way to the net more often. He does it, obviously. But he hasn't needed to push himself to do that against anyone.
“That's the other thing I find quite remarkable; he hasn't had to, for instance, change things up so much or serve-volley, because someone is pinning him back. He hasn't needed to change anything in his whole game to still remain dominant.
“Everyone is playing him into his game, where he feels comfortable.”