Novak Djokovic smacked himself with his racket twice after failing to break Flavio Cobolli in the fourth set of their Wimbledon quarter-final. The Serb had a golden opportunity to break his Italian opponent, having taken the previous two sets, but Djokovic sent a cross-court backhand wide in one of several unforced errors throughout the contest.
The 38-year-old had all the momentum after bouncing back from a 7-6(6) defeat in the opening set, blitzing Cobolli 6-2 and then 7-5 in front of a packed Centre Court on Wednesday evening. An early break would have put him in pole position, but that opportunity went to waste.
As Djokovic trudged over to the side of the court, where he had earlier hunched over in a squat and then began doing stretches on his rib cage, he hit his shoe with his racket twice, before setting it aside as he sat down.
Andrew Cotter, on commentary duties for the BBC, described the incident as: “Djokovic rather loses his composure.”
Four-time SW19 semi-finalist Tim Henman added: “It kind of sums up his frame of mind but it is surprising you’ve just won the third set 7-5 to go up 2 sets to 1. Very unhappy. Don’t want to get that wrong either.”
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Djokovic later came off the court shaking his head and putting his finger to his lips, appearing to gesture towards the crowd, after another Cobolli hold in the fourth set.
World No. 24 Cobolli caused Djokovic problems throughout and the veteran was not afraid to be annoyed, shouting at his box and moaning to the umpire.
The Rome native had already beaten Jack Draper conqueror, Marin Cilic, having despatched rising star Jakub Mensik and Brit Jack Pinnington Jones earlier in the competition in a very impressive route to the quarter-final.
Former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli felt that much of Djokovic’s frustration in that moment came from the knowledge that he could have been heading towards victory and a semi-final with Jannik Sinner.
“I think part of the frustration Novak Djokovic is feeling is that he’s quite far from the finish line,” she told BBC 5 Live. “He hasn’t broken yet in that fourth set, he would have to break or get to a tie-break if he wants to win it.”