Novak Djokovic reached his 14th Wimbledon semifinal, surpassing Federer's record, but a nasty fall during his quarterfinal win against Cobolli raised concerns. Despite the scare, Djokovic recovered to win the match and advance to the next round.
The World No.6 and Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic left the crowd at Centre Court holding their breath after a nasty fall during his quarterfinal match against Flavio Cobolli of Italy at Wimbledon 2025 on Wednesday, July 9.
Djokovic registered a four-set victory over Cobolli - 6-7, 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 in three hours and 11 minutes to qualify for his 14th semifinal at a grass-court Grand Slam, breaking Roger Federer’s all-time record of 13 semifinal appearances at Wimbledon. The 38-year-old made it to the final four for the fifth consecutive time at the third Grand Slam of the year.
In the opening set, Novak Djokovic looked slightly off rhythm as Flavio Cobolli pushed the Serbian to the tiebreak and clinched it 8-6 to take a surprising one-set lead. However, the Serbian tennis legend quickly regrouped and made a comeback to take the next three sets to defeat the Italian and seal his berth in the semifinal.
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Novak Djokovic’s painful tumble
Though Novak Djokovic managed to turn the game around, his campaign nearly took a hit after he had a nasty fall, leaving the Centre Crowd scared and concerned. The incident took place in the fourth set of the quarterfinal match, when the Serbian was on match point. Djokovic slipped on the thick grass behind the baseline while chasing a forehand from Cobolli.
While attempting a return to the Italian, Djokovic was wrong-footed, which led to him leaning awkwardly and slipping; eventually, his leg went beneath, and he virtually went into a split. The Serbian fell on the ground, leaving the crowd in complete silence. However, Novak Djokovic managed to get up and stretch his left leg.
Flavio Cobolli showed great sportsmanship by crossing over to Djokovic’s side and offering him his racquet to help him up.
This is not the first time that the ongoing Wimbledon has witnessed an injury scare. The Bulgarian tennis star Grigor Dimitrov suffered a muscle injury beneath his right arm when he was leading 2-0 over World No.1 Jannik Sinner in the fourth round clash and decided to retire hurt from the match after assessing the severity of the injury during the medical timeout.
Similarly, in the same match, Jannik Sinner had a nasty fall on his right elbow in the opening game of the first set and took a medical timeout. Despite concerns over his injury, Sinner featured in the quarterfinal clash against Ben Shelton of America by wearing an arm protection sleeve.
‘Body is not the same today like it was before’
Speaking at the post-match press conference, Novak Djokovic was asked about his nasty fall. In response, he was surprised by the way he fell, but remains concerned about the incident as he believes that his body is no longer the same as before.
“I did not fall so far this year. It is surprising because of the way I move on grass - very aggressive - you expect to fall and have these situations. In terms of the fall, it was a nasty fall. It was very awkward. That happens on the grass. I've had quite a few of those throughout my grass-court career," the Serbian tennis star.
“Obviously, the body is not the same today like it was before, so I guess the real impact or effect of what happened I will feel tomorrow. So let's see," he added.
Novak Djokovic entered his 52nd Grand Slam semifinal of his illustrious career and will face Jannik Sinner in his quest for a record-breaking 25th Grand Slam title. Sinner defeated Ben Shelton in three straight sets to qualify for the second Wimbledon semifinal.
