Novak Djokovic fights back to beat Wu Yibing and reach second at Wimbledon

Good evening, and welcome to live coverage of the opening round at Wimbledon, with Novak Djokovic beginning his campaign on Centre Court against China’s Wu Yibing. The Serbian’s 21st tournament in SW19 marks the latest chapter in his hunt for a 25th major, with the record triumph proving elusive since he equalled Margaret Court’s tally of 24 by winning the US Open in 2023.

Djokovic has reached two grand slam tournament finals in that time, but was beaten by Carlos Alcaraz on both occasions, at Wimbledon in 2024 and at the Australian Open earlier this year. Indeed, Alcaraz has proved a significant obstacle in Djokovic’s quest for the record, winning five of the 10 majors since the Serbian’s 24th, but the world No 2 will be absent from Wimbledon this summer because of a wrist injury, certainly boosting Djokovic’s chances of an eighth title at the All England Club.

The other major obstacle has been Jannik Sinner, who has won four of the other five majors during the aforementioned period. Despite wilting in the heat in Paris last month – in the absence of rival Alcaraz – and needing five sets to come through his opening-round match this afternoon, the Italian remains the heavy favourite and Djokovic’s main threat over the next two weeks.

With Sinner’s early exit and Alcaraz’s absence from Roland Garros, Djokovic’s defeat in the third round felt like a big missed opportunity, but the 39-year-old believes he is better prepared for the third grand slam tournament of the season. “Roland Garros was physically very draining, demanding,” he said. “Three matches, all of them went almost four hours. But I’m proud of the effort.”

He added: “Anyway, I was planning to peak at Wimbledon. I knew not having any matches, official matches on the tour, going pretty much straight into Roland Garros, was going to be quite difficult. Maybe too big of a challenge for me at the moment. That’s what happened. But I knew that’s going to give me a bit more time to get myself prepared for Wimbledon. So hopefully I’ll have a good tournament here.”