London, July 8, 2025 — Novak Djokovic’s relentless pursuit of a record 25th Grand Slam title continues at Wimbledon as he prepares to face Italy’s Flavio Cobolli in the quarter-finals, while Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner navigate their own high-stakes paths on the grass of SW19.
The Serbian star, who has endured heartbreak in recent majors including back-to-back Wimbledon final losses to Carlos Alcaraz battled back from a shaky start against Australia’s Alex de Minaur in the fourth round. After dropping the first set, Djokovic found his rhythm to win the next three.
“He was exposing my game, exposing my weaknesses,” Djokovic admitted of De Minaur. “I went into kind of full lock-in mode… I finally was able to kind of do what I wanted to do and swing through the ball.”
Despite the momentum, Djokovic remains wary of his next opponent, 22nd seed Cobolli, who is enjoying a fairytale run in his first Grand Slam quarter-final.
“He doesn’t strike me as a grasscourt specialist with his game, but he reached the quarter-finals,” Djokovic said. “Huge credit to him. He’s a big fighter.”
Cobolli, a clay-court player by pedigree, has defied expectations with strong wins over seasoned grasscourt competitors, putting pressure on the 38-year-old Djokovic to avoid another stumble near the summit of tennis history.
Meanwhile, women’s world No. 1 Iga Swiatek continues her quest for a maiden Wimbledon crown. Having long been dubbed the ‘Queen of Clay,’ Swiatek appears increasingly comfortable on grass after cruising into the last eight.
“I feel like I’m doing a great job at just learning how to play on grass. First time I feel, like, more comfortable,” said the five-time Grand Slam champion, who reached her first grasscourt final in Bad Homburg last month.
The 24-year-old Pole faces 19th seed Liudmila Samsonova of Russia, a player known for thriving on faster surfaces. While Swiatek holds a 4–0 record over Samsonova, the pair have never met on grass, adding intrigue to the clash.
“She’s pretty experienced too, so it’s going to be a challenge. I’ll just prepare the same way as before any other match and I’ll be ready,” Swiatek said.
On the men’s side, world No. 1 Jannik Sinner enters his quarter-final showdown against American Ben Shelton under an injury cloud. Sinner advanced when Grigor Dimitrov retired hurt in the fourth round but suffered an elbow injury during an early fall.
“I don’t take this as a win at all,” said Sinner, who revealed he would undergo scans to assess the damage. “It didn’t seem a tough one, but I still felt it quite a lot, especially (during) serve and forehand.”
Shelton, seeded tenth, sees a chance for his first Wimbledon semi-final after losing all five previous matches against Sinner.
“Sinner is like a machine,” the American admitted, but added confidently, “When I get to the big tournaments, I’m more confident about getting in the second week and having deep runs because I’ve done it a lot.”
Wimbledon Order of Play — Wednesday
Centre Court (Starts 12:30 GMT)
7-Mirra Andreeva (Russia) vs. Belinda Bencic (Switzerland)
22-Flavio Cobolli (Italy) vs. 6-Novak Djokovic (Serbia)
Court One (Starts 12:00 GMT)
8-Iga Swiatek (Poland) vs. 19-Liudmila Samsonova (Russia)
1-Jannik Sinner (Italy) vs. 10-Ben Shelton (USA)
