Time bends for Novak Djokovic: five-hour, 15-minute battle proves age is just a number

LONDON: Five hours and 15 minutes is enough time to finish a marathon, binge-watch a trilogy, or fly across much of Europe. Novak Djokovic spent every one of those 315 minutes reminding the world why, at 39, he remains one of sport’s greatest endurance athletes.Djokovic’s jaw-dropping effort against third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in the Wimbledon quarter-finals, where he battled his way to a 7-6 (10), 3-6, 6-3, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (10-4) victory at approximately 10.54 pm local time on Tuesday, just six minutes before the All England Club’s 11 pm curfew, left the tennis world in awe.

The first question put to him at the media conference reflected the enormity of the feat.“Like Messi, 39 years. One scores goals, you win after 5 hours and 15 minutes,” he was told.Djokovic, never fond of comparisons, however flattering, was quick to make the cut. “It would be nice to play 90 minutes like him,” the Serbian replied.On Friday, Djokovic, the seven-time champion here, meets world No. 1 Jannik Sinner in a blockbuster semi-final. The Italian, 14 years his junior, leads their head-to-head 6-5, although Djokovic won their most recent meeting in the Australian Open semi-finals in January, ending Sinner’s run of five consecutive victories in the rivalry.

The 24-time major champion has spent the defining years of his career confronting what once seemed impossible and steadily turning it into routine. A record 25th Grand Slam singles title, something no man or woman has achieved in any era of the sport, is now just two victories away.Djokovic will have two days to recover, though he arrives in the semi-finals having contested the longest match of this year's Championships, while Sinner has not dropped a set in his last four matches.“I don't know what tomorrow brings. I still want to go at least one more step further,” the 39-year-old said.“But this was as good as a final for me. I gave it all that I had,” he said of his quarterfinal win in which the 25-year-old Canadian sparkled with 29 aces and 74 winners.Auger-Aliassime believes the difference lay in the biggest moments, where Djokovic’s composure and consistency separate him from the field.“In the end he proves again that he’s good when he needs to,” the third seed said.

“He's solid, more solid than I was when he needed to be.”He also highlighted Djokovic's extraordinary ability to force opponents into playing one extra shot under pressure.“Every second-serve return he makes you play,” Auger-Aliassime said. “He hits the deep target; it's so impressive that he does it time and time again.”The Canadian said the Serbian invariably elevates his level when the match is on the line.“You just feel like in tiebreaks or tight moments, either he serves well, or he makes you play the extra shot,” he said.

“He just keeps you in a position where you can't attack him; he neutralises you and waits for a mistake.”Five hours and 15 minutes may have emptied Djokovic's reserves, but it also reinforced a truth that has defined two decades of men's tennis. Time catches everyone eventually. It just seems to take a little longer with Novak Djokovic.In other matches, wildcard entrant Arthur Fery continued his remarkable Wimbledon run, reaching the semi-finals with a dominant 6-4, 7-6 (4), 6-0 win over the ninth seed Flavio Cobolli.

The 23-year-old Briton, ranked No. 114 and entering the tournament with only six tour-level wins, became the lowest-ranked men’s singles semi-finalist at Wimbledon since Goran Ivanisevic won the title as world No. 125 in 2001. He plays the second seed Alexander Zverev next on Friday.Meanwhile, Marta Kostyuk reached her second consecutive Grand Slam semi-final and first at Wimbledon, defeating Jasmine Paolini 6-3, 6-2, and will face the ninth-seeded Czech Linda Noskova, who beat Elise Mertens 6-3, 7-5 to complete the final-four line-up.