Djokovic braves injury to enter last 8
Novak Djokovic may wish he had as much time to prepare for his next match as he did for his previous one.
A lingering right shoulder injury flared up in Djokovic’s victory over 51st-ranked Adrian Mannarino in the fourth round at Wimbledon on Tuesday, adding a measure of doubt to his quarterfinal match against 11th-seeded Tomas Berdych on Wednesday.
Djokovic, who won 6-2, 7-6 (5), 6-4 under a closed roof at Centre Court, had his match delayed from the night before after Gilles Muller needed 4 hours, 48 minutes to defeat Rafael Nadal.
“It’s been something that I’ve been dragging back and forth for a while now,” said Djokovic. “But I’m still managing to play, which is the most important thing.”
After Djokovic took a 4-3 lead in the third set, he called for a medical timeout and had a trainer work on his shoulder.
He also winced following the first serve of his third and final match point — a 24-shot rally that ended when Mannarino’s forehand went into the net.
Djokovic said he and Mannarino were in communication with tournament organizers throughout the evening. They were told fan safety was the reason why they did not move the match to Centre Court, which was vacant after Roger Federer’s three-set victory over Grigor Dimitrov.
“I just think it was a wrong decision not to play us last night, because we could have played,” Djokovic said. “I think the last match on the Centre Court was done before 7. Having in mind that Centre Court has the roof and lights, we could have played ‘til 11. I just didn’t see any logic in not playing us on the Centre Court.”
Rain began to fall on Tuesday about 30 minutes before Djokovic and Mannarino were to begin, and as others were suspended, they played the first match of the tournament under the roof. Djokovic broke his opponent twice in the first set and took a 4-1 lead in the second before Mannarino, who matched his best finish in a Grand Slam event by reaching the fourth round, broke back and then forced the tiebreaker.
Several rallies went more than 15 shots, including one that went 29 and ended with the Frenchman picking up a break point in the second set.
One thing that did cause Djokovic concern was the appearance of what he called a “hole” in the middle of the court near the service line. After the match, he pointed the spot out to chair umpire Carlos Bernardes.
“He wanted me to show him, so I showed him,” Djokovic said. “His reaction wasn’t that great.”
With the victory, Djokovic will be one of an event-record five quarterfinalists aged 30 or older, with Berdych, Federer, Muller and Andy Murray also advancing. Berdych last beat Djokovic in Miami in 2013. He also won in the Wimbledon semifinals in 2010, when he was the runner-up to Nadal. Also rekindling their history in the quarterfinals will be Federer and Milos Raonic, who will meet for the third time.