It could be a battle of the walking wounded when Novak Djokovic and Alex de Minaur square off in the Wimbledon quarterfinals on Wednesday afternoon.
There actually shouldn’t be many–if any–concerns with Djokovic. The 37-year-old sustained a torn medial meniscus at the French Open, but aside from a knee sleeve being worn there is no real sign of any problem at the All-England Club. Although Djokovic was not at his best in the second and third rounds against Jake Fearnley and Alexei Popyrin, respectively, he picked up the pace in a big way to rout Holger Rune 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 on Monday night.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion’s reward for another safe passage into the last eight is a fourth meeting with De Minaur. Djokovic leads the head-to-head series 2-1 after they split a pair of encounters earlier this season; the Aussie won 6-4, 6-4 at the United Cup before Djokovic got the job done 7-5, 6-4 in Monte-Carlo. Their only previous Grand Slam meeting came at the 2023 Australian Open, where the Serb cruised 6-2, 6-1, 6-2.
De Minaur has been fantastic on grass throughout his career with a 51-23 record, including a 7-1 mark this summer that features a title in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. As such, it’s no surprise to see him tearing it up in London. During week one the ninth-ranked Australian beat James Duckworth and Jaume Munar in straight sets before getting a walkover from Lucas Pouille. De Minaur defeated Arthur Fils 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 on Monday but apparently injured his hip at the very end of the match.
Even if the 25-year-old is 100 percent in this one, his back is still up against the wall. Djokovic raised his level against Rune and generally gets better and better the deeper and deeper he progresses at majors–something that De Minaur found out the hard way Down Under in 2023.
Barring anything unforeseen in Djokovic’s physical state, this will likely be one-way traffic.
Pick: Djokovic in 3
WWW: Djokovic vs. De Minaur?
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