The greatest tennis player of all time, Novak Đoković, secured his place in the Wimbledon Round of 16 after defeating France’s Arthur Rinderknech 7-5, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6, taking another step toward his 25th Grand Slam title.

For the ninth consecutive year, we will see Novak among at least the last 16 at the legendary grass-court tournament (with the exception of the season in which the competition was not held).

Đoković dropped two sets on his way to the Round of 16, where he will face the surprise of the tournament, Roman Safiullin, who knocked out both Andrey Rublev and João Fonseca on his way to this stage of the competition.

The biggest challenge for the Serbian star was the fact that he had never played against Rinderknech before. He certainly watched footage of him and went through a briefing with his team, but he still had to discover his opponent’s abilities on the court.

Nole only faltered at two moments, the first coming after breaking serve in the fifth game of the opening set, when he immediately allowed his opponent to break back for 3-3, and then throughout the entire third set.

However, he remained calm and waited for the right opportunity to strike while making sure not to take too many risks and lose his rhythm.

Rinderknech held firm until the 11th game, when the Serbian once again broke his opponent’s serve and closed out the opening set.

From that point on, he began covering the court like a young man, and after saving a break point in the second game of the second set, he once again broke his opponent’s serve. From 2-1 onward, he played with much greater confidence.

He perhaps could have gone up 2-0 in sets even earlier, but after missing chances to make it 6-3, he held serve and wrapped up that part of the match.

Then came a set to forget. Đoković came close to allowing the Frenchman to win it 6-0, something that had never happened to him in a match on grass.

Still, at 0-5 and 0-30, he managed to hold serve and avoid being bageled. However, he could not prevent his opponent from reducing the deficit to 2-1 in sets. At one point, it seemed as though he had consciously conceded the set, as he did not have many chances to come back.

The fourth set turned into a trench battle. There was not a single break point until the 12th game, when Novak managed to shorten the agony and put an end to a very difficult contest that threatened to become even tougher.

Be that as it may, it is now time to rest, and then look ahead to Sunday, when the Round of 16 matches will take place.

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Source: Telegraf, Foto: AP

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