WIMBLEDON

ranked Nos. 4-6 — Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas, guys in their 20s all touted as up-and-comers — already are gone, as is three-time major champion Stan Wawrinka, who lost to 21-year-old Reilly Opelka of the U.S. in five sets.

“I understand that people want to see a new winner

of a Grand Slam. They don’t want to see three of us dominating the Slam titles. Eventually it’s going to come,” Djokovic said, then waited a comedic beat before adding with a smile: “in about 25 years.”

Djokovic moved into the third round by dismissing Denis Kudla of the United States 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.

“There were some moments in the match,” Djokovic said, “where maybe I could have done

better.”

Whatever you

He will face 22-year-old Hubert Hurkacz of Poland on Friday; Auger-Aliassime takes on 21-year-old Ugo Humbert of France.

“I know if I win, I could play Novak. But then there is a match to play. Once the match gets going, you’re already in enough trouble in the court,” Auger-Aliassime said, “you don’t really think of what could happen.” say, Novak.

He boasts a big serve that reached 131 mph on Wednesday and helped him save 12 of 14 break points. His forehand can end a point when he needs it to. So can his backhand. And his returns were good enough to win the first point in 11 of Moutet’s 18 service games.

After losing to him at a grass-court tuneup event last month, Tsitsipas called Auger-Aliassime “the most difficult opponent I’ve ever faced,” agreed with the premise that he could go deep at Wimbledon this year and offered this prediction for down the road: “He can win Grand Slams, to be honest with you.”

Auger-Aliassime is trying not to pay too much attention to that kind of talk, saying that he cares more about his own goals and self-belief than any outside views.

When a reporter asked about the idea that he might be looked upon to “carry the sport forward,” AugerAliassime replied: “‘Carry the sport’ is a bit much. Obviously, yeah, there’s a bit of a pressure. I think it’s quite funny, because I think for a lot of players, when they play their first Grand Slam, they have zero expectations. No one talks about them.”

With him, that’s not the case. Not at all.