Novak Djokovic reached the Wimbledon semifinals for a men’s-record 14th time — breaking a tie with Roger Federer — as he pursues his unprecedented 25th Grand Slam title, quickly recovering from an awkward fall in the last game to beat Flavio Cobolli 6-7 (6), 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 on Wednesday and set up a showdown against No. 1 Jannik Sinner.
No. 22 Cobolli was 3 years old when the 38-year-old Djokovic made his main draw debut at Wimbledon 20 years ago. The 23-year-old Italian had never reached the second week of a major before this tournament.
Djokovic, meanwhile, will be appearing in his 52nd major semifinal, which ties Chris Evert for the most by any man or woman in the Open era.
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Not everything went smoothly for Djokovic, who served for the opening set at 5-3 but got broken at love. He later was a point from owning that set before Cobolli came through. And on his second match point, his right foot slid out from under him and he did the splits as he went down to the grass and landed on his stomach.
Two points later, though, the victory was complete.
Earlier, Djokovic did stretches and breathing exercises at changeovers. He whacked his shoe with his racket after one miss in the fourth set. He seemed bothered at times by the bright sun above Centre Court.
He also showed off all of his considerable skills, whether accumulating 13 aces and holding in 19 of his 21 service games, using a drop-shot-lob-drop-shot combination to take one point or limiting his unforced errors to 22 — half as many as Cobolli, who had his right thigh massaged by a trainer between some games.
Most Major Semifinal Appearances*
| Player | Major SFs |
|---|---|
| Novak Djokovic | 52 |
| Chris Evert | 52 |
| Roger Federer | 46 |
| Martina Navratilova | 44 |
| *men & women in Open era | |
| — ESPN Research |
As Djokovic tries to equal Federer’s men’s mark of eight Wimbledon trophies, now comes a tough task against Sinner, a three-time Grand Slam champion who has won their four most recent meetings, including in the semifinals at the French Open last month. Then again, Djokovic is 2-0 against Sinner at the All England Club, beating him there in the 2023 semifinals and 2022 quarterfinals.
It’s the seventh straight Wimbledon where Djokovic has made the semifinals, matching Federer (2003-09) for the longest streak by any man since 1968.
ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
