Novak Djokovic delivered one of the gutsiest performances of his storied career on Tuesday, battling through a five-hour, 15-minute quarterfinal against Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime to reach the Wimbledon semifinals. The 39-year-old Serb won 7-6 (12/10), 3-6, 6-3, 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (10/4) in what became the longest quarterfinal in Wimbledon history, setting up a blockbuster semifinal against world number one and defending champion Jannik Sinner of Italy on Friday.
The match was a relentless baseline battle in which the margins were razor-thin throughout. Djokovic was hurt during the first set yet played through the pain, surviving three set points before converting on his fifth. After losing the second set, he surged ahead, winning six of seven games from 2-2 in the third, only for third-seeded Auger-Aliassime to rediscover his range and force a fifth set via a tiebreak. In the deciding super-tiebreak, Djokovic pulled away from 4-3 as his opponent's errors mounted, sealing victory with the crowd and even his children watching deep into the evening. "I was telling the kids to go to sleep. I'm glad they stayed because it was one of the best matches I was part of on this court in my career," Djokovic said afterwards.
The victory extends a remarkable set of records for Djokovic. He has now reached a record 15th Wimbledon semifinal and his 55th Grand Slam semifinal overall, and is only the second man in the Open era to reach the Wimbledon last four at age 39 or older, after Ken Rosewall in 1974. He is chasing a record 25th Grand Slam title and what would be an eighth Wimbledon crown — equalling the all-time men's record held by Roger Federer. Djokovic leads his head-to-head with Sinner 5-6 overall, with two of those wins coming at Wimbledon, though Sinner beat him at this same stage last year.
Sinner, for his part, reached the semifinals without dropping a set, defeating German veteran Jan-Lennard Struff 7-5, 7-6 (4), 6-3 in a match that was trickier than the scoreline suggests. Struff, ranked 74th in the world and appearing in just his second Grand Slam quarterfinal, served powerfully and repeatedly targeted Sinner's forehand — a weakness that has troubled the Italian throughout the tournament. Sinner ultimately held firm, playing a particularly clinical tiebreak to take the second set before a single break sufficed in the third. An exhausted Djokovic acknowledged the semifinal challenge ahead: "I wish it was the final so I don't need to worry about how the body will feel tomorrow, but yeah, I'm happy."
The Djokovic-Sinner showdown is shaping up as one of the most anticipated matches of the Wimbledon fortnight. With Djokovic's extraordinary longevity pitted against Sinner's consistency and youth, the contest will test whether the Serbian veteran can recover physically in time — and whether, at 39, he has enough left to reach yet another Grand Slam final.