Djokovic Ties Federer Record With 105th Wimbledon Singles Win

Novak Djokovic defeated Arthur Rinderknech 7-5, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(4) in the third round at Wimbledon on July 3. The victory gave the 39-year-old his 105th singles match win at the All England Club and tied Roger Federer's record on the men's list. Djokovic hit a backhand volley winner on match point after Rinderknech fell toward the net on Centre Court.

He dropped the third set in 18 minutes but closed the fourth-set tiebreaker with back-to-back aces. "Today, I was quite stressed out, more tension than usual," Djokovic said in his on-court interview. "I saw him slip and kind of fall down.

Djokovic described joining Federer on 105 singles match wins as "a huge honor and privilege" and proposed a matchup between the two for the 106th win. Martina Navratilova holds the overall record with 120 singles wins at Wimbledon. Djokovic will next face Russian qualifier Roman Safiullin, who defeated Joao Fonseca 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.

Safiullin reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2023. Defending champion Jannik Sinner advanced with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 win over Jenson Brooksby on No. 1 Court and will face Japanese qualifier Shintaro Mochizuki.

Third-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime beat American qualifier Michael Zheng 7-6(1), 6-2, 6-1. Jan-Lennard Struff defeated eighth-seeded Daniil Medvedev 7-6(4), 7-6(5), 7-5.