Novak Djokovic may not have been as sharp as he would have liked on Friday afternoon at Wimbledon, but the seven-time champion nonetheless pulled through to record a resilient win and equal Roger Federer’s record of men’s singles matches won at the grass-court major.
After being forced into a Centre Court tussle with Arthur Rinderknech, Djokovic locked in on the big moments and found a way to halt the Frenchman’s big serving to carve out a 7-5, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(4) third-round victory. Now with 105 singles wins at Wimbledon, the 39-year-old Djokovic is tied with Federer for the all-time record among men, with former WTA No. 1 Martina Navratilova (120) the only player boasting more.
“To be able to make history in this sport is a huge honour and a huge privilege,” Djokovic said in his on-court interview. “Particularly here, it’s always a been a dream childhood tournament of mine. I’m not thinking about whether it’s going to be 105 or 106, but I’m just thinking about trying to win that match on a given day.
“Today I was quite stressed out. There was more tension than usual. I knew it was going to be a very challenging match for me. I’m just happy to overcome this. I propose a matchup between me and Roger for 106!”
Djokovic produced a statement performance on Wednesday night, raising his level against Stefanos Tsitsipas to defeat the Greek No. 1 across three slick sets and send a reminder to the rest of the field. Yet his three-hour, one-minute bout with the fierce-hitting Rinderknech, that ended with both men on lying on the grass after an eventful match point, told a different story.
After firing 35 winners across the opening two sets — both of which he lost — Rinderknech’s aggressive game style began to pay dividends. The 6’5” Frenchman capitalised on a tentative third set from Djokovic to pull one back before commanding the crowd in the latter stages of the fourth, when both players showed their quality with a series of absorbing rallies.
Rinderknech held serve for 4-4 by wriggling out of danger in a thrilling exchange that had Djokovic backpedalling toward the baseline before eventually missing a backhand long. This particular point had the Centre Court crowd in raptures as they dropped their fans and lifted themselves to their feet to applaud the 25th seed.
While there were plenty of signs of promise from Rinderknech, who earned the biggest win of his career on the same court 12 months ago against World No. 3 Alexander Zverev, Djokovic ultimately had the final say. The 24-time major champion was resilient against Rinderknech’s delightful serve and volley routines, and found his way through a tense tie-break to seal the win.
“A bit of luck, a bit of skill, in the end,” Djokovic said when asked about how he got the job done. “It was pretty much a flawless tie-break from my side. I did everything I could. I think I served extremely well, pretty much only in the tie-break. For most of the match, I think I struggled with that serve.
“But it was also due to his quality. He’s very tall. He hit some incredible serves. So, he deserves a round of applause for his performance today. It was a really tiring, really close match. I’m happy to overcome it. Sometimes you just have to find a way to win, and I’m happy I did that today.”
Having triumphed in his first meeting against Rinderknech, Djokovic set a fourth-round meeting with 28-year-old qualifier Roman Safiullin, who earlier ousted #NextGenATP star Joao Fonseca 6-3, 6-3, 6-3, with a near-flawless performance. Safiullin, who struggled with injury at the back end of 2025, did not record a tour-level win this year prior to Wimbledon.