Novak Djokovic admits his come-from-behind five-set win over Kevin Anderson in the fourth round was one of the toughest matches of his Wimbledon career.
Djokovic had to dig deep to complete a two-day 6-7, (6), 6-7 (6), 6-1, 6-4, 7-5 victory over the 14th-seeded South African, surviving a barrage of 40 aces in the process.
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The world No1 reached his 25th consecutive grand slam quarter-final with a win in a three-hour 47-minute contest, that started on Monday and was completed on Tuesday after getting suspended for darkness the night before.
It was the first since the 2012 French Open where Djokovic has come back from two sets down to win a match.
“Kevin served exceptionally well. I find it that this was one of the most difficult matches I played in Wimbledon in my career,” said Djokovic, who takes on No9 seed Marin Cilic in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.
“I was helpless on my return.
“I was two sets down, to come back and win in five definitely gives me great satisfaction and confidence for the next challenge.”
Anderson became the first player in the Open Era to have reached the round of 16 at a grand slam seven times and never gone on to reach the quarter-finals.
Djokovic: “This was one of the most difficult matches I’ve played at Wimbledon, maybe in my career” #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/9gYFcnRQ7a
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 7, 2015
Returning to play the fifth set on Tuesday, a few showers delayed the start of the match for about half an hour as players were ushered back in and the courts were covered when the action was due to start.
But the rain subsided and play commenced at 13:35 with Anderson serving first in the deciding fifth set against Djokovic.
Anderson almost blew away a 40-0 lead in the third game but he held on and aced his way to 2-1, with special thanks to Hawk-Eye which showed one of the South African’s aces was just in.
Djokovic double-faulted to start the next game and he was soon facing two break points. Anderson was on the run and sent a forehand long on the first one and fired another ball just long to help Djokovic back to deuce and the world No1 went on to hold for 2-all.
Anderson held to love to inch ahead 3-2 and continued to put Djokovic under pressure, getting a 30-all point on the Serb’s serve by out-rallying him in incredible fashion. But the defending champion still hung on.
WATCH A relieved reigning champion @DjokerNole kisses the turf after his titanic comeback #Wimbledon http://t.co/mdBYibvczj
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 7, 2015
Meanwhile, Anderson again had a love-hold to heap the pressure on Djokovic’s side once again.
The set remained on serve and Djokovic passed his first real test when he served to stay in the tournament and held to love for 5-5.
Anderson hit his first double fault of the set while serving in game 11 and committed another one to go down 15-40. A good Djokovic return caught Anderson at his feet at the net and the South African was broken.
Two nervy returns on two Djokovic second serves gave the top seed his first match point and he completed his comeback win by charging to the net and watching a defensive Anderson shot sail long.
It was Novak Djokovic’s 23rd grand slam five-set win, pulling level with Marat Safin and Todd Martin for fifth among Open Era leaders.
