At least half an hour of this searing Centre Court encounter had passed by the time the crowd had fully decided which player they would throw their support behind.
Novak Djokovic is the holder of a record 23 men’s Grand Slam titles and, much to his frustration, the sport’s pantomime villain.
Andrey Rublev is the fiery seventh seed and competes for Russia, whose players were banned from Wimbledon last year as a result of the nation’s invasion of Ukraine.
Soon enough, they had made up their minds. It was to be 25-year-old Rublev. This was his eighth Grand Slam quarter-final, had never previously reached the last four, and what daunting an opposition player he faced in his latest bid to do so.
But what fight he delivered. Rublev was beaten by Djokovic merely, simply and only because it was Djokovic. It is hard to see how the Russian could have lost that match — playing at the level he did — against anyone else in this year’s Wimbledon draw.
If Djokovic is the 36-year-old with agilities of a player half his age, Rublev was the younger model whose blistering forehands, thumping serves and mature play caused the Serb the sorts of problems his previous opponents so far this fortnight had been unable to.
Rublev broke Djokovic and then served out the first set 6-4. Then he and the crowd inside Centre Court were given a punctual reminder of Djokovic’s pedigree. The seven-time Wimbledon champion took the second set 6-1, and yet so little of what Rublev did opened itself up to criticism.
“You can see by the way he’s grunting after his shots [how up for it he was]“, Djokovic joked afterwards. “It’s kind of scary.”
And so was the level of tennis. Djokovic is into a semi-final against Jannik Sinner after winning the second and third sets 6-4, 6-3 respectively.
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It was a cruel and unbefitting end to the match for Rublev to be broken to love on a final service game that abandoned him. He had given so much to this encounter, even if the relentless, ruthless, inevitable Djokovic was the victor. The look on the Russian’s face by the end was telling. What more could he do? What more can anyone do?
Knowing he and his rival had put on a real show, Djokovic told the Centre Court spectators: “I hope you enjoyed the match.”
“I’m very humble”, he insisted after mentioning he doesn’t think about personal accolades, walking off as the most decorated player in the history of men’s tennis.
