It did tickle to hear Novak Djokovic daydreaming idly on Centre Court about some enchanted day in the future when the three amigos might enjoy having the time to chew the fat about the good old days at Wimbledon around some tropical beach bar.
Today, though, the conversation could only surely be: “Roger, get rid of the sun loungers will you, old boy? Rafa, hold the margaritas. I’ve got work to do…”
So it is that on this Wimbledon Saturday, when a host of the world’s great athletes traditionally gather here on Centre Court, they’ll all be in thrall to the most successful of all, who’s back to the grindstone and back to record breaking, ready to raise his racket to acknowledge reaching 100 not out.
If he can down his Serbian compatriot Miomir Kecmanovic, it will be his century of Wimbledon singles wins, something in the men’s game that only his would-be cocktail bar buddy Federer has ever achieved.
His first match at Wimbledon? Twenty years ago, a 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-3 win over Argentine Juan Monaco. That day, Rafa Nadal’s coach was apparently wandering by Court 18 on his way to training, caught sight of this young lad, asked who he was and went off to tell his nephew: “We have a problem; I’ve seen a very good tennis player!” Uncle Toni wasn’t wrong.
Well, two decades on, Djokovic’s influence has been such that the 25-year-old Kecmanovic still sounds much more like a wide-eyed fan than an opponent.
“I saw him first at the Serbian Open and he was my idol,” gushes Miomir. “The more I played, the more I saw what he could do on court and the more I admired.”
The perfect role model then, but also the nightmare adversary. A bit like Jannik Sinner.
After he’d been filleted 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 by the extraordinary young Italian in the last round, Australian Aleksandar Vukic sighed: “It’s very suffocating. So I go back to the towel and I feel like I’m in a boxing ring and just have to go back out there for another round. I was pummelled.”
If that fate awaits Sinner’s third round opponent Pedro Martinez, it won’t be for the want of a battle from the Spanish Olympic roommate of Carlos Alcaraz.
Djokovic is also leading the charge of the ageless admirables, with both Marin Cilic, at 36, and 34-year-old Grigor Dimitrov continuing their latest odysseys today, having now graced 30 Wimbledons between them.
Cilic, fresh from ending Jack Draper’s dream, keeps pursuing his own in front of his two little lads, Baldo and Vito. Dad was “amazing” out there, astonishingly resurrected from the man whose knees were so shot that he plunged out of the game’s top 1000 players.
Now, after surgery, he reports he’s playing pain-free, progressing nicely and with the wind at his back as he crosses swords with the combative Jaume Munar, a Spaniard so dogged he finally got over the line in his last match on his 11th match point.
Talking of combative, Danielle Collins is probably not the sort of tough-as-old-boots opponent Iga Swiatek would want as the five-time Grand Slam champion seeks to finally prove she’s made of the right stuff for grass court tennis.
After all, it was only in May when the American ended Swiatek’s Italian Open defence in the Pole’s clay court domain.
She likes a fight does Danielle. Back in January, she even took on the entire Aussie crowd at the Rod Laver Arena when they were giving her a hard time while playing a local hope. Collins beat her opponent – and then the crowd, blowing them all a kiss. It’s best not to get under her skin.
Our Ladies’ Singles Champion Barbora Krejcikova keeps rolling along nicely after coming to SW19 not in the greatest shape, but now it gets serious, up against No.10 seed Emma Navarro, who’s seeking to oust a second Czech winner after ending Petra Kvitova’s Wimbledon career in the first round.
Elena Rybakina seems to have a way of ghosting through the draw with great efficiency, as luminaries tumble around her. Kazakhstan’s 2022 winner hasn’t dropped a set yet as she tackles Denmark’s No.23 seed Clara Tauson.
Another, more surprising Danish hopeful will follow her on No.2 Court. August Holmgren, a 27-year-old US university graduate in theatre arts and performance studies is now hoping to create some more drama as the lowest-ranked man left in the draw, at world No.192, in his maiden Grand Slam against Australian No.11 seed Alex de Minaur.
We say Australian, but with no home singles interest today, ‘Demon’ reckons he feels increasingly like an honorary Brit. “I’ve been feeling the love,” he lauded the No.2 Court faithful after his last win, and he will call on it again as the fiancé of our very own Katie Boulter faces another proper bolter.
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