At least Novak Djokovic could laugh about it immediately afterward.
Yes, he took what he called a “nasty” and “awkward” fall on his second match point at Wimbledon on Wednesday. Yes, he slid into the splits and ended up face-down on the Centre Court grass. And, yes, those sorts of things aren’t ideal for a 38-year-old seeking an unprecedented 25th Grand Slam title.
Still, Djokovic dusted himself off and took the next two points, reaching the semifinals at the All England Club for a men’s-record 14th time with a 6-7 (6), 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 victory over No. 22 seed Flavio Cobolli to set up a showdown against No. 1 Jannik Sinner.
“Obviously, my body is not the same today like it was before,” Djokovic said at his news conference, “So I guess the real impact or effect of what happened, I will feel tomorrow. So let’s see. I’m hoping in the next 24, 48 hours, that the severity of … what happened is not too bad, that I’ll be able to play at my best and free of pain in two days.”
“It’s going to take the best of me at the moment to beat Jannik. I mean, I know that,” said Djokovic, who has lost his last four meetings with Sinner, including in the French Open semifinals last month.
Djokovic is 2-0 against Sinner at Wimbledon, eliminating him in the 2023 semifinals and 2022 quarterfinals.
Against Cobolli, the late-match tumble was not the only thing that was far from smooth for Djokovic. He served for the opening set at 5-3 but got broken at love. He later was a point from owning that set before first-time major quarterfinalist Cobolli came through.
Djokovic did stretches and breathing exercises at changeovers. He whacked his shoe with his racket after one miss in the fourth set. He seemed bothered at times by the bright sun above Centre Court.
He also showed off all of his considerable skills, accumulating 13 aces, holding in 19 of 21 service games, using a drop-shot-lob-drop-shot combination to take one point and limiting his unforced errors to 22 – half as many as Cobolli.
On Friday, Djokovic will try to reach his seventh consecutive final at the All England Club and get closer to equaling Roger Federer’s men’s mark of eight trophies there. The other men’s semifinal is two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, who defeated Djokovic in the 2023 and 2024 finals, against Taylor Fritz.
Sinner powers into Wimbledon semifinals to ease injury fears
Earlier on the day, Sinner eased pre-match injury fears to sweep past Ben Shelton in straight sets. He wore a protective sleeve on his right arm during his 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-4 quarterfinal victory against 10th seed Shelton in two hours and 19 minutes.
The 23-year-old world No. 1, who hurt himself in the previous round against Grigor Dimitrov, battled through the discomfort to reach his second semifinal at the All England Club.
Sinner, who grimaced after returning one of Shelton’s serves in the second set, said after the match on Court One that he was on the mend.
“You know, when you are in a match with a lot of tension, you try to not think about it,” said the Italian when asked about his injury. “It has improved a lot from yesterday to today. Yesterday, my day was very short on the practice court, 20 minutes with the coaches only.”
Nonetheless, then he added: “This is no excuse. There is no better stage to play tennis and think I showed this today. Again, you know, the atmosphere helps me so much, so thank you so much for the support.”
Sinner became the first Italian man to reach the last four at the All England Club multiple times, following his previous semi-final appearance in 2023. Now he will fight for his first Wimbledon final.
Swiatek’s first Wimbledon semifinal comes against Bencic
On the women’s side, Iga Swiatek reached the Wimbledon semifinals for the first time with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over 19th-seeded Liudmila Samsonova that went from a stroll to a bit of a struggle.
“Even though I’m in the middle of the tournament, I already got goosebumps after this win,” said Swiatek, who will face unseeded Belinda Bencic on Thursday for a spot in the final. “I’m super happy and super proud of myself.”
Swiatek is a five-time major champion, with four of those titles on the red clay of the French Open, and the other on the hard courts of the U.S. Open. She’s also twice been a semifinalist at the hard-court Australian Open.
The Polish led by a set and 3-0 in the second against Samsonova, who was appearing in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal. Soon, though, it was 4-4, then 5-5. However, then Swiatek held for a 6-5 lead, then broke to end it, and a smile spread across her face.
Bencic beat No. 7 Mirra Andreeva 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2) to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal since the 2019 U.S. Open. The other women’s semifinal is No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka against No. 13 Amanda Anisimova; they advanced with wins Tuesday.
“It doesn’t end here,” Bencic said.
Bencic, who at 28 is a decade older than Andreeva, is competing in her second major tournament since returning to the tour after giving birth to a daughter, Bella, in April 2024.
“I’m very proud, actually. All my career, I didn’t say it a lot to myself, but after having Bella, I really say it to myself every day,” Bencic said. “We are just enjoying life on tour with Bella, traveling. It’s been beautiful to create these memories together. And obviously, to play great is so amazing, but for me, it’s a bonus. I’m generally just really happy to be able to play again.”
Novak Djokovic reaches record 14th Wimbledon semifinal
