Late in their careers, legends are masters at rationing excellence. It is an act of self preservation, for trying to radiate class for sustained periods can often be energy-sapping. Instead, they mostly remain steady, hang in there, and go for the kill in short bursts.
On a hot Sunday afternoon at the Wimbledon Centre Court here, Novak Djokovic did exactly this to quell the challenge from Roman Safiullin 7-6(6), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. The 39-year-old Serb is now into his ninth straight singles quarterfinal at the All England Club.
At the outset, it was 28-year-old Safiullin, with his ruffled look, loose-fitting T-shirt and expansive game, who was quickly off the blocks. He ran up a 5-2 lead as Djokovic struggled with his depth and appeared troubled by the sun directly hitting his eyes while serving.
Safiullin also had significant momentum coming into the match. Grass is one surface where the importance of early round results compounds. The Russian had started in the qualifying, beaten the 12th seed Andrey Rublev in the opening round and then ousted rising star Joao Fonseca in the third.
Six matches are generally good enough to get a feel for the lawns and find your footing on the slippery turf, and Safiullin, whose best result at a Major is also at Wimbledon (quarterfinals in 2023), seemed at ease.
But not for nothing is Djokovic a seven-time winner at SW19, and he showed this in the eighth game of the first set by erasing two set-points with a service winner and an inch-perfect ace.
The value of this hold was fully realised in the subsequent game, where he broke the Safiullin serve after recalibrating his power and range. The set was secured in the tie-break for the loss of six points.
In the second stanza, Djokovic made the play in the sixth game by earning two break-points. He let go of both, but came up with a searing forehand winner to earn a third and drew an error to take a 4-2 lead. Then, serving for the set at 5-3, the 24-time Major champion came up with two first-rate serve-and-volley points.
The third set began with a trade of breaks, but Djokovic’s level dropped in the sixth game. He fought hard, denying Safiullin five chances to break by coming up with aces, on-the-run passes, lobs and volleys.
But they weren’t enough as the World No. 132 took it on the sixth opportunity to nose ahead 4-2, and hold on to claim the set 6-3.
However, Safiullin’s honeymoon ended there as Djokovic zoomed to a 3-0 lead in the fourth and went on to close out the victory with a stunning low volley.
“I don’t get to feel inferior from the back of the court often, but I did today,” Djokovic said later. “I didn’t want to stay in the rallies [for long]. I had to change things up, and my accuracy and precision with the first serves got me out of trouble.”
“Survive to thrive” was his mantra, the Serb added. And he did that to a T.
Naomi Osaka, in contrast, only thrived as she reached her first Wimbledon quarterfinal with a 6-2, 7-6(2) over World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka.
It snapped the Belarusian’s 14 straight quarterfinal or better performances and 21 consecutive tie-break wins at Majors, and was her first straight-sets loss at a Slam since US Open 2020.
Published on Jul 05, 2026
