Australian great Rod Laver was the last man to complete the true Grand Slam, winning all four titles in one year, in 1969. “He serves very well”.
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“I’m not basing my decision on Novak”, he said. “Just well done. He just overpowered me”.
Raonic, one of a cluster of grass aficionados here at Wimbledon who stands to benefit the most from the departure of the juggernaut Djokovic, has been emerging as a threat at this event ever since reaching his first Grand Slam semifinal here in 2014.
When asked whether his early exit from Wimbledon would affect his decision to play in the Davis Cup, Djokovic said, “No, I am not going to play in the Davis Cup”.
“I believe in positive things in life, and I managed to win four Grand Slams in a row – two different seasons, though. I want to try to focus on that rather than on failure”, reported AP.
America’s Querrey, the world number 41, built only his second win in 10 meetings with Djokovic on an epic-serving performance over two days after the tie had been suspended with him two sets to the good on Friday. If he has one thing going for him (you know, other than the ridiculous serve and elation over his progress thus far), it’s that Raonic struggled through a three-hour, five-set match against David Goffin, the 11th seed, in the Round of 16.
Djokovic had two more chances to break in the fifth game before finally breaking through at the 12th time of asking for a 5-4 lead. On the resumption Saturday, the US, Australian and French Open champion took the third set 6-3.
“Congratulations to Sam, he played a terrific match”, Djokovic said of the big-serving Querrey.
Djokovic mounted a comeback to win the third set. “In the tiebreak, I was leading”.
It’s the first time the Serb has suffered defeat at at a grand slam since the 2015 French Open final. “I would have liked to have been at the US Open and be the first to shake Djokovic’s hand if he did it. Don Budge did that for me in 1962 at Forest Hills”. To take it round-by-round, day-by-day, but surely Djokovic’s loss changes a lot by way of expectations, including that on Murray as well. I was a few points away from losing past year against Kevin Anderson in a very similar match on the same court. Sometimes it works in your favor, sometimes against.
Federer, a seven-time champion from Switzerland, is 34 and still looking to make history at the All England Club by winning a record eighth title. “To do it here at Wimbledon is really special….”
That came with Murray about to serve for the second set at 5-4 and he promptly lost the next three points before dropping serve.
Having also brushed aside Liam Broady and Lu Yen-Hsun without dropping a set in the first two rounds, Murray appears to peaking just in time for the latter stages of the tournament.
He will now play either Juan Martin del Potro, who beat Stan Wawrinka or France’s Lucas Pouille in the next round after his 6-2 6-4 6-4 victory.
Laver tuned in on TV to see some of the match that ended Djokovic’s bid, a 7-6 (6), 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (5) loss to Sam Querrey of the United States in the third round of Wimbledon.
Querrey said his win was the best of his career. “Hopefully will just kind of play freely and have fun and play big and hopefully get another win”.
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Kei Nishikori retired from his fourth-round match against Marin Cilic because of injury.
