Novak Djokovic reached the Wimbledon semifinals for a males’s-record 14th time — breaking a tie with Roger Federer — as he pursues his unprecedented twenty fifth Grand Slam title, rapidly recovering from a clumsy fall within the final sport to beat Flavio Cobolli 6-7 (6), 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 on Wednesday and arrange a showdown towards No. 1 Jannik Sinner.
No. 22 seed Cobolli was 3 years previous when the 38-year-old Djokovic — whom Cobolli has referred to as his idol — made his principal draw debut at Wimbledon 20 years in the past. The 23-year-old Italian had by no means reached the second week of a serious earlier than this match.
Djokovic, in the meantime, will seem in his 52nd main semifinal, which ties Chris Evert for probably the most by any man or lady within the Open period. He is the second-oldest man to achieve the ultimate 4 on the All England Membership — solely Ken Rosewall in 1974 (39 years, 246 days) was older.
Not the whole lot went easily for Djokovic, who served for the opening set at 5-3 however received damaged at love. He later was some extent from proudly owning that set earlier than Cobolli got here by. And on his second match level, his proper foot slid out from beneath him and he did the splits as he went all the way down to the grass and landed on his abdomen.
Two factors later, although, the victory was full.
Earlier, Djokovic did stretches and respiratory workouts at changeovers. He whacked a shoe along with his racket after one miss within the fourth set. He appeared bothered at occasions by the brilliant solar above Centre Court docket.
He additionally confirmed off all of his appreciable expertise, whether or not accumulating 13 aces and holding in 19 of his 21 service video games, utilizing a drop shot-lob-drop shot mixture to take one level or limiting his unforced errors to 22 — half as many as Cobolli, who had his proper thigh massaged by a coach between some video games.
As Djokovic tries to equal Federer’s males’s mark of eight Wimbledon trophies, now comes a tricky job towards Sinner, a three-time Grand Slam champion who has received their 4 most up-to-date conferences, together with within the semifinals on the French Open final month. Then once more, Djokovic is 2-0 towards Sinner on the All England Membership, beating him there within the 2023 semifinals and 2022 quarterfinals.
It is the seventh straight Wimbledon the place Djokovic has made the semifinals, matching Federer (2003-09) for the longest streak by any man since 1968.
ESPN Analysis and The Related Press contributed to this report.
