Novak Djokovic avoided his earliest exit from Wimbledon since 2008 by producing a clinical fight back to oust Dutch wildcard Tim Van Rijthoven in four sets.
The six-time champion might have won 97 more matches than his opponent on grass coming into their clash but he was tested throughout his 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, win over the world No.104. It’s the 53rd time Djokovic has reached the quarter-final of a Grand Slam and the 13th time he has done so at Wimbledon. It is also the 25th match in a row he has won at The All England Club.
“He was very tough,” Djokovic said of his Dutch opponent. “I never faced him before, he won his first ATP title a few weeks ago by beating top 10 players. He was on a streak on this surface and I knew it wasn’t going to be easy with that serve. He has a lot of tough, powerful forehands and it took me a bit of time to get used to his pace. Conditions under the roof are a bit different so it takes a bit of time to adjust. Overall I closed out the match well.“
Whilst he is yet to officially break into the world’s top 100, Rijthoven has been a revelation on the grass this season. After losing in the opening round of qualifying at the Surbiton Challenger to a player ranked No.375, he received a wild card to play s-Hertogenbosch where he stunned Taylor Fritz, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Daniil Medvedev to claim his first Tour title.
It was his performance in S-Hertogenbosch that cemented Rijthoven’s Wimbledon wildcard and against Djokovic on Sunday evening he produced glimmers of tennis to justify why he deserved the accolade. Playing under the roof on Center Court, the top seed was in full throttle early on as he surged through the opener in just 41 minutes.
However, it was in the second set where Djokovic encountered some stern resistance from Rijthoven whose powerful shot-making and serves exceeding the 130 mph benchmark enabled him to break. He continued to hold his nerve to level the match at one set all by coming through a marathon six-deuce service game.
After that blip, Djokovic hit back stronger than ever. The intensity produced by his opponent was one he could not maintain as the Serbian stormed through the third set with a five-game winning streak. Rijthoven prevented the bagel before Djokovic closed it out with a forehand that forced an error from his rival.
A similar pattern unfolded in the fourth set with Djokovic breaking twice as he closed in on victory No.83 at Wimbledon. Serving for the win, he triumphed on his first match point by hitting a forehand winner down the line.
“It was obviously a very big match for me, playing for the first time on Centre Court against one of the greatest players of all time.” Said Rijthoven.
“The fact that I was on Centre Court, the first couple games I felt that I was a little nervous. But then I grew in the match, started to play better. Actually got the second set. Then Novak did his Novak thing and played very, very well. He had all the answers.”
Djokovic will play Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals on Tuesday. Only twice has he lost at the quarter-final stage in the tournament. In 2009 he fell to Tommy Haas and in 2017 he was beaten by Thomas Berdych.
“It’s going to be a tough match,” Sinner said of playing Djokovic. “He’s playing very, very good. I will try my best. That’s the minimum I can do. Just enjoy every moment out there.”
