Novak Djokovic reaches a record
14th Wimbledon semifinal and faces No. 1 Jannik Sinner next
[July 10, 2025]
By HOWARD FENDRICH
LONDON (AP) — 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."
That's when he will take on three-time major champion Sinner, who
didn’t play like someone dealing with an injured right elbow while
using terrific serving and his usual booming forehand to beat
10th-seeded Ben Shelton 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-4.
“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 — like Sinner, a 23-year-old from Italy — 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.
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Jannik Sinner of Italy celebrates winning the men's singles quarter
final match against Ben Shelton of the U.S. at the Wimbledon Tennis
Championships in London, Wednesday, July 9, 2025.(AP Photo/Kirsty
Wigglesworth)
The women's semifinals Thursday are Aryna Sabalenka
vs. Amanda Anisimova, and Iga Swiatek vs. Belinda Bencic.
Against Shelton at No. 1 Court, Sinner wore a white sleeve on his
right arm with strips of tape visible underneath — one above the
elbow, one below it — after he was hurt when he fell in the opening
game of his fourth-round match against Grigor Dimitrov on Monday.
Sinner, the runner-up to Alcaraz at Roland-Garros, had an MRI exam
on Tuesday and initially canceled a practice session that day but
did hit some balls in a 20-minute session at an indoor court later.
“When you are in a match with a lot of tension, you try to not think
about it,” Sinner said. “It has improved a lot from yesterday to
today.”
He played as though nothing were amiss, grabbing 27 of 29 service
points in the first set while accumulating a total of 15 winners to
just one unforced error.
“You can’t go into a match thinking that the guy’s not going to be
at 100%,” Shelton said. “His ball was coming off pretty big today,
so I didn’t see any difference.”
Shelton stayed right with him until 2-all in the tiebreaker. That's
when Sinner surged in front, helped by a double-fault and four
consecutive forehand errors by Shelton.
At the outset of the second set, Shelton finally made some headway
in a return game, getting a pair of break points at 15-40.
On one, Sinner produced a forehand winner. On the other, he pounded
a 132 mph serve — his fastest of the match — and rushed forward,
getting to deuce when Shelton’s backhand pass attempt found the net.
That was followed by a 118 mph ace and a 125 mph service winner.
Those were Shelton's only break chances.
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