Novak Djokovic is into the Wimbledon quarter-finals, having come from a set down against Alex De Minaur to win in four.
The former world number one never really seemed to find his rhythm in the match, with that likely spurred on by the slowest of starts.
De Minaur made Wimbledon history against Djokovic with the nature of his dominant first set.
Alas, the 38-year-old turned things around, as he almost always does.
He then gave a frank assessment of his level in the post-match on-court interview.
Novak Djokovic assesses his performance vs Alex De Minaur
Walking somewhat sluggishly to the microphone to review his performance, Novak Djokovic’s analysis pulled no punches.
However, he did try to justify his supremely slow start, telling the Wimbledon crowd: ‘I love winning in straights to be honest, if I can. But in days like this where as you progress in the tournament the matches are only going to get tougher.
‘Alex has been an established top 10, top 15 player for the last couple of years and he is very tough to play against on this surface.
‘I have never faced him on this surface, so I was slightly more nervous coming into this match, and that reflected on my game in the first set.
‘It was a very difficult encounter. A lot of challenging moments for me. Sometimes I wish I had a serve and volley and nice touch from the gentleman who is standing right there [Roger Federer]. That would help. But I can’t complain, I still have to run a lot! And that’s fine. It’s part of my game.
‘I was trying to mix it up. But I did not feel the ball so well in the first set. But as the match progressed, I was getting used to the conditions and his pace and I was starting to find more forehands and make more winners from the back of the court.’
The Serbian then looked up to Roger Federer in the royal box, and jokingly continued his adulation: ‘It is probably the first time he has watched me and I have won the match! I have lost the last couple, so it’s good to break the curse.
‘It’s great. Obviously great to have Roger, a huge champion and someone who I admired and respected a lot. We shared the stage a lot and it’s great to have him back at his most successful and favourite tournament, no doubt.’
John McEnroe previews Novak Djokovic’s Wimbledon match vs Flavio Cobolli
Speaking after the match, John McEnroe then gave his appraisal of what he had just seen, before then previewing the upcoming quarter-final.
Having beaten Alex De Minaur, Djokovic has now set up a clash against Flavio Cobolli.
The American stated: ‘It was one of the poorer sets we have seen from him, so it was very surprising.
‘It was windy and tricky, and De Minaur was timing the ball very well, but you would not expect Novak to lose a set 6-1.
‘But what you do expect is for him to regroup and find a way and get the job done.
‘De Minaur played as well as he possibly could, he threw a lot of things at him, he should be proud of himself considering last year he didn’t even get to play him and had a default, so good thing for him in the future.
‘But back to the drawing board, and I commend Flavio Cobolli for getting to the quarters, but if you told Novak before the tournament who he was going to play in the quarters, somebody would tell me he would take that.’
Cobolli will be playing his first-ever Grand Slam quarter-final on Wednesday. Djokovic will be playing his 63rd.
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