Djokovic Said: "I don't remember being so helpless,".

No matter what the weather is like or where you are, Hubert Hurkacz’s serve is one of the hardest to return in grass-court tennis.

Novak Djokovic found a way to stop the Pole’s powerful serve and win in the fourth round at Wimbledon on Monday. Hurkacz served 33 aces but couldn’t beat the seven-time winner in a match that started on Sunday night in London.

“[It was] kind of two different matches: last night and today,” said Djokovic, who led Hurkacz by two sets to love at the end of the day before winning 7-6(6), 7-6(6), 5-7, 6-4. “Very different circumstances. When we played under the shed roof, it was more hot and slippery. There is clearly no wind.

A little bit easier on the serve’s flow. It was also a little slower from the back of the court.Today, everything is different. A lot of wind. It’s hard to get the right pace and speed with the toss. He didn’t seem to care much about it.I thought that might be my chance to learn how to read his serve a little bit better. That didn’t happen.

He was doing a great job of serving. To be honest, I don’t remember being so useless during the return games. I knew he had a big serve and that he was a great player, especially on grass, but I didn’t expect him to serve so well and so correctly. Good for him.”

Djokovic looked upset after losing the third set to an opponent at this year’s Wimbledon who had not yet lost serve. The No. 2 player in the world returned his cool in his usual way on Centre Court. He finally beat Hurkacz’s serve in the seventh game of the fourth set, then served out the match to win.

“I go through my moments,” Djokovic said when asked about his mental fight as Hurkacz threatened to make a comeback. “I think that when you don’t have many chances in your opponent’s service games, like in this match, and you don’t take them when they’re there, the pressure builds up.”Hurkacz has a stronger serve than I do.

I knew that I probably had to work a little bit harder for my service games. Pressure that builds up eventually just goes away. “I was upset with how I played the last game of the third set. Also, he deserves credit for playing a really, really good game. I didn’t do much, so the set was gone. I thought my chances were good when the third set went to a tie-break. So, of course, I was even more angry about it.”

Djokovic’s determination got him a match against Andrey Rublev in the quarterfinals of the grass-court major, where he has now won 32 straight matches. The Serbian has a 3-1 lead over Rublev in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series, but he knows what the seventh seed will bring to the court.

Djokovic said of Rublev, “He’s a great player with one of the best forehands in the game.” “His grunts show how serious he is on the game. He kind of terrifies his opponents on the other side of the net. He is a very nice person who works just as hard as anyone else to be a Top 10 player, which he has been for a few years.

He is one of the most reliable players on all kinds of courts. I really like and admire him.”I was surprised to find out that he has never made it to the semi-finals of a Grand Slam. I’m sure that will give him more inspiration to play his best tennis tomorrow.”

See more articles: