Novak Djokovic advanced to his 15th Wimbledon semifinal after coming through a tough five-set battle with Felix Auger Aliassime.
In a match lasting five hours and 15 minutes, the longest quarterfinal ever at the Championships, Djokovic defeated Auger-Aliassime 7-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6 to book his place in the final four.
Where does that match rank among the best of Novak Djokovic’s career?
It was the longest Wimbledon quarterfinal in history…
The Serb will now take on Jannik Sinner for a place in the final, over five months after dethroning the Italian at the Australian Open.
Djokovic is now two wins away from surpassing Margaret Court as the outright all-time leader, man or woman, in major titles, with both on 24 currently.
Aged 39, he is continuing to make history at Wimbledon 2026, and left Auger-Aliassime in amazement after their bout.
Felix Auger-Aliassime reacts after losing to Novak Djokovic
Pinpointing what went wrong in his post-match press conference, the Canadian said: “I had a lot of belief. I don’t think belief was a problem.
“I think after one set all, it was just this one game in the third set, I lost focus. After more than two-and-a-half hours of being very focused with him, I lost a little bit my focus.
“Fourth set I was fortunate to come back. He also had lost focus, a dip, to give me a chance to come back in the fourth set. Then I thought I played good, good tiebreak.
“But yeah, I think in the end he proves again that he’s good when he needs to. He’s solid, more solid than I was, when he needs to. Yeah, it’s game styles. I think his game style is a little bit more consistent and solid in the tight moments than mine.
How would you rate Novak Djokovic’s chances of winning Wimbledon?
“But again, he’s so impressive with so many things he does. The quality of his serve is probably one of the best in the draw.
“The return obviously we know. Every second-serve return he makes you play, hits the deep target. We know, because we’ve seen him so much, but it’s so impressive that he does it time and time again.”
Felix Auger-Aliassime says he will need to ‘learn’ moving forward
Auger Aliassime, who was seeded third at Wimbledon, was a set away from reaching his third Grand Slam semifinal.
He came close to winning the bout against Djokovic, which was his longest match ever, but Auger-Aliassime said his conqueror’s ability to handle tight moments separated the two.
The 25-year-old said: “I’ve watched plenty of Novak over the years. I’ve analyzed a lot of his matches, whether it’s here, other Grand Slams.
“Even at times when he wasn’t playing his best, beating Roger here 2019. You just feel like in tiebreaks or tight moments, either he serves well or he makes you play the extra shot.
“Just keeps you in a position where you can’t attack him, but he neutralizes you until he waits for a mistake.
“So yeah, his game style, it’s not my natural game style. I’m more trying to play forward. But I’ll have to learn how to manage that, when to go forward, when to be a bit more solid in a way.”
Auger-Aliassime’s last chance at a major in 2026 will come at the US Open, where he is defending 800 points having made the semifinals last year.
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