Djokovic Defeats Safiullin in Four Sets to Reach Wimbledon Quarterfinals

Novak Djokovic defeated Roman Safiullin 7-6(6), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 on July 5 at Wimbledon to reach the quarterfinals. The match lasted 3 hours and 26 minutes. Djokovic recorded his 106th career match win at the All England Club, one more than Roger Federer.

Martina Navratilova holds the all-time record with 120 victories. He reached the quarterfinals for the 17th time, one behind Federer's record of 18. Djokovic saved two set points while trailing 5-2 in the first set.

He received a code violation warning for yelling an obscenity in Serbian during the third set and drew boos from the Centre Court crowd after hitting a ball away in frustration following the loss of that set. " He said he chose to approach the net more frequently because Safiullin was outplaying him in baseline rallies.

Djokovic jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the fourth set and held serve at love to close out the match.

Djokovic will be 39 years and 51 days old at the conclusion of the 2026 Wimbledon tournament. He is the third-oldest man to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals, behind Federer at 39 years 337 days in 2021 and Ken Rosewall at 39 years 246 days in 1974. He has won 46 consecutive Wimbledon matches against players other than Jannik Sinner or Carlos Alcaraz.

Tomas Berdych was the last player other than those two to defeat him at the tournament, in the 2017 quarterfinals. Djokovic's next opponent is third-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime.