It had been a day of dramas and upsets. Surely Novak Djokovic, the No.6 seed and seven-time champion in these parts, would not be another one to add to the growing list.

Yet for an hour or so in the middle of his 6-1, 6-7(7), 6-2, 6-2 win over Alexandre Muller, he was in serious trouble. A combination of the dogged resistance of the Frenchman and the onset of illness for Djokovic left the former champion like a sitting duck in Muller’s line of fire.

But, as only he can, Djokovic made a Lazarus-like recovery and survived to meet Dan Evans in the next round.

“To be quite frank, I went from feeling my absolute best for a set and a half to feeling my absolute worst for about 45 minutes,” Djokovic explained. “Whether it’s a stomach bug – I don’t know what it is – but I struggled with that. The energy kicked back in after some doctor’s miracle pills and I managed to finish the match on a good note.

“I honestly wasn’t thinking about [retiring] and taking that as an option. I knew something was off with the stomach so hopefully when that calms down, the energy will come back. That’s what happened.”

These two had met before, back in 2023. It was in the first round of the US Open and Djokovic dropped a paltry five games as he took the first step on his path to the title. But as the Frenchman pointed out to the ATP website, they are both very different players these days.

Djokovic has not won another Grand Slam title since that summer two years ago and now the 38-year-old is chasing shadows of his former self. The 28-year-old Muller, ranked No.41, is working and waiting to see where the future will take him.

He won the first title of his career in Hong Kong, a 250 event, at the start of the year and went on to reach the final in Rio de Janeiro in February. Since then, it has been slim pickings (he is currently on a four-match losing streak) not that anyone would have known.

The first 30 minutes left him shellshocked. In those first seven games, Djokovic dropped a miserly two points on his own serve while on the Muller serve, the former champion squeezed in every rally until the break points squeaked.

Djokovic made it look so easy and he was clearly in no mood to let any ball go past him or any point escape him. When Muller walloped the occasional forehand into clear, green space, Djokovic appeared to take it personally. The look on his face was the same as if he had just won the lottery but left the ticket in the pocket of the jeans that were currently sloshing around the washing machine. He looked distraught. Then again, there were not many occasions when it happened.

Muller made a better start to the second set but he was still running flat out just to stand still. All his energies were spent on protecting his own serve – and it was taking all he had. As for Djokovic’s serve, the Frenchman was never allowed anywhere near it.

The best that Muller could do was frustrate Djokovic for as long as possible. In the second set, he repelled 11 break points as Djokovic had a face like thunder. He was willing to be patient but this was getting ridiculous. Four set points evaded him in the 10th game.

Finally, Djokovic’s patience cracked. Forced into a tiebreak, he was gifted a 4-2 lead thanks to a Muller double fault. He moved towards a further two set points. But thanks to three sliced backhands that either floated into the net or over the baseline, the set was gone. He stalked off for a bathroom break as the roof was closed in the fading light.

The man who came back looked neither happy nor well. After three games, he called for the doctor who provided a powder to mix with his drink; he gulped down the cocktail and got back to work. Finally, he got his breakthrough: Muller offered up his serve with a double fault and Djokovic was 3-2 to the good.

Whatever it was that the doctor gave him, it worked. There was a new crack in his groundstrokes and a little more steel in his backbone as he strode around Centre Court. Muller was allowed just two games (and still Djokovic had not faced a break point). Muller had fought and fought but Djokovic, even an ailing Djokovic, would not let him pass.

From the medical time out, Muller was only allowed to win two more games. Djokovic was not to be beaten; not this night.