Novak Djokovic has turned back the clock to win the longest quarterfinal in Wimbledon history in a five set rollercoaster on Wednesday morning.
The Serbian triumphed 7-6 (12-10), 3-6, 6-3, 6-7 (7-4), 7-6 (10-4) over brave Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime to become the oldest male to reach the Wimbledon semifinals for more than 50 years.
Djokovic will face defending champion Jannik Sinner in the final four after he battled a calf injury and recovered from a fourth set tiebreak loss to record one of his greatest wins on grass.
Djokovic only secured the victory after more than five hours and 15 minutes.
The most prickly moment of the match came when it was halted at the end of the second set.
Tournament supervisor Denise Parnell came onto court and judged that the evening conditions warranted the Center Court roof being closed.
But with the time 7:40pm (local time) and darkness not expected to fall at Wimbledon until 9:17pm, Djokovic was left fuming.
“The other day you didn’t want to close it until 8.30pm. Now you want to close it,” he said.
“You don’t want to get to 8.30pm? It’s 7.40pm now. We can play a whole another set outdoors. We’re an outdoor tournament.”
The official responded by bringing up Jannik Sinner‘s match against Shintaro Mochizuki on Sunday when the roof was also closed early due to darkness, The Sun reports.
But it only further enraged Djokovic.
“With Jannik, I don’t care what happens in his matches. I’m talking about our match right now,” Djokovic said. “You remember the first round, you didn’t close it until like 8.20pm. Now you want to close it at 7.40pm. Where’s the consistency?
“You’re so proud of your rules and you’re not sticking to any kind of rules. You have no idea what the rule is.”
Auger-Aliassime also seemed unhappy with the decision and asked if they had to close the roof.
Djokovic was able to regain his composure to take the third set.
However, the match took another turn when Auger-Aliassime took the fourth set.
But, Djokovic provided the final twist when he pounced in the fifth set match tiebreak.
The question now is whether Djokovic will have anything left in the tank to beat Sinner.
Bidding to win a record 25th Grand Slam title and equal Roger Federer’s record of eight Wimbledon crowns, Djokovic has won five of his 11 clashes with Sinner.
Two of those victories over Sinner came at Wimbledon in 2022 and 2023, but he lost to the Italian in the 2025 semifinals before avenging that defeat in the last four at the Australian Open in January.
As ever for the seven-time Wimbledon champion, each match brings another deluge of statistics that underline Djokovic’s remarkable longevity and incredible thirst for success.
He has advanced to a record-extending 15th Wimbledon semi-final and 55th at the Grand Slams.
He is into the Wimbledon last four for an eighth consecutive time, setting a new record ahead of Roger Federer for the longest streak of men’s singles semifinal appearances at the All England Club.
Djokovic is only the second player in the Open era to reach the men’s semi-finals at Wimbledon aged 39 or older after KenRosewall in 1974.
In the women’s tournament, Coco Gauff and Karolina Muchova reached their first Wimbledon semifinals.
— With Post Wires
