Novak Djokovic brushed off a dramatic fall and early struggles to book his place in the Wimbledon semi-finals for a record 14th time, defeating Italy’s Flavio Cobolli 6-7 (6), 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 on Wednesday. The 38-year-old Serb, chasing an unprecedented 25th Grand Slam title, will next face top seed Jannik Sinner.
Though Djokovic took a painful tumble on his second match point—sliding into an awkward split and landing face-first—he recovered quickly, won the final two points, and laughed about it afterwards.
“Obviously, (my) body is not the same today like it was before,” Djokovic told reporters. “So I guess the real impact or effect of what happened, I will feel tomorrow... 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 is when he meets Sinner, the three-time major champion who looked unfazed by his recent elbow injury. The Italian outplayed 10th seed Ben Shelton 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-4 on No. 1 Court, showcasing his trademark forehand and powerful serve.
Djokovic, who has lost his last four meetings with Sinner—including their French Open semi-final last month—is under no illusions. “It’s going to take the best of me at the moment to beat Jannik. I mean, I know that,” he said.
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Still, Djokovic enjoys a perfect 2-0 record against the Italian at Wimbledon, having beaten him in last year’s semi-final and the 2022 quarter-final.
The contest against Cobolli was not without hiccups. Djokovic dropped the first set in a tie-break after squandering a 5-3 lead, was broken at love while serving for the set, and endured bouts of visible frustration—smashing his shoe with his racquet and squinting under the fierce sun at Centre Court.
However, his experience and shot-making ultimately proved decisive. Djokovic fired 13 aces, won 19 of 21 service games, and hit only 22 unforced errors compared to Cobolli’s 44. One point even saw a classic drop-shot–lob–drop-shot exchange that enthralled the Centre Court crowd.
On Friday, Djokovic will aim to reach his seventh consecutive Wimbledon final and move closer to equalling Roger Federer’s men’s record of eight titles at the All England Club.
The other men’s semi-final will see two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz take on Taylor Fritz. Alcaraz defeated Djokovic in the 2023 and 2024 Wimbledon finals.
Meanwhile, the women’s semi-finals on Thursday will feature Aryna Sabalenka vs Amanda Anisimova, and Iga Swiatek vs Belinda Bencic.
Sinner, who had injured his right elbow during his fourth-round win over Grigor Dimitrov, wore a protective sleeve during his quarter-final but showed no signs of discomfort. “It has improved a lot from yesterday to today,” he said. “When you are in a match with a lot of tension, you try to not think about it.”
Shelton agreed: “His ball was coming off pretty big today, so I didn’t see any difference.”
The American had just two break chances, both early in the second set. On one, Sinner answered with a 132 mph serve. He followed it up with an ace and a service winner to close the game.
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