Novak Djokovic is into yet another Wimbledon semi-final, having come from a set down against Flavio Cobolli to beat the Italian in four.
It was a really gritty, inspired performance from the youngster, who pushed his idol to the brink.
However, in the end, experience told, and the 38-year-old emerged as the deserved victor.
As he sought to serve out the match in the fourth set though, there was a real moment of shock as Novak Djokovic slipped as he sought to return Cobolli’s strike.
His feet gave way and his legs fell into a nasty-looking split, the likes of which would have finished off most players.
Novak Djokovic is not like most players.
Novak Djokovic takes nasty fall at the end of Wimbledon quarter-final
The Serbian hopped back up, stretched his hip out and kept his nerve to finish things off.
It was a remarkable show of determination and physical prowess, the likes of which we have become frighteningly accustomed to.
How Djokovic continues to defy biology is ground-breaking, and when asked about his slip in his on-court interview, he offered the following update: “I finished the match. It was a nasty slip, but that’s what happens when you play on the grass, and I didn’t fall so far this year. It’s a bit surprising because the way I move on the grass is a lot of sliding and very aggressive movement, you are expected to fall. So it did come at an awkward moment, but I managed to find a good serve and close it out.
“I am going to visit this subject now with my physio and hopefully I will be well in a few days.”
Djokovic already knows who his next opponent will be, having finished just after John Lloyd branded Jannik Sinner ‘almost impossible’ to play against.
Can Novak Djokovic finally stop Jannik Sinner?
Around this time two years ago, Djokovic faced Sinner in the Wimbledon semi-finals and brushed him aside in straight sets.
It’s fair to say that, since then, the 23-year-old has improved.
When they faced each other in 2023, the youngster was yet to win a single Grand Slam, and was just the eighth seed at the event.
Now, he is the world number one by some distance, and a three-time major champion.
Perhaps more worrying is that Djokovic has actually lost his last four matches against Sinner, who knocked him out of the Australian Open last year and the French Open this year.
It is impossible to write off the 24-time Grand Slam winner, but this will arguably be the toughest task he has faced in recent memory, as he bids to reach a seventh-straight Wimbledon final.
