Djokovic equals Roger Federer’s record, says ‘of course, I’m the favourite’

“I know they want … to win. But it ain’t happening, still,” he said. And as the spectators’ reacted, Djokovic laughed and observed about himself: “Very humble.”

The win against Andrey Rublev was the 33rd in a row at the All England Club for Djokovic, moving him closer to a fifth consecutive championship and eighth overall there — which would pull him even with Federer on both counts.

Djokovic, a 36-year-old from Serbia, is also pursuing a 24th career major trophy. He already set the men’s mark in that category by collecting No. 23 at the French Open last month, pulling ahead of Rafael Nadal. 

“I don’t want to sound arrogant, but of course I would consider myself favourite,” said Djokovic.

“Judging by the results I had in my career here, the last four times at Wimbledon that I won, so I do consider myself favourite, yes.”

The 36-year-old was playing in his 400th Grand Slam match on Tuesday and insisted he was enjoying being the man to beat.

“I love it. Any player wants to be in the position where all the other players want to beat you,” he said after preserving his record of not being defeated on Centre Court since 2013.

“The pressure never goes away every time I come on court.

“They want to get a scalp and the win — but it ain’t happening!”

Next up for Djokovic is a matchup against No. 8 seed Jannik Sinner, who made it to the semifinals at a major tournament for the first time by beating Roman Safiullin 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 earlier Tuesday.

Djokovic has won both previous head-to-head meetings against Sinner, a 21-year-old from Italy. That includes in last year’s Wimbledon quarterfinals, when Djokovic dropped the first two sets before coming through in five.

(With agency inputs)

Updated: 12 Jul 2023, 08:02 AM IST