Novak Djokovic has pointed out the quality of his upcoming opponent, Hubert Hurkacz, after earning a straight-sets win over Stan Wawrinka on Centre Court. Hurkacz claimed an almighty scalp at Wimbledon back in 2021, when he beat eight-time champion Roger Federer.
Djokovic and Wawrinka served up an entertaining contest that went close to the 11pm curfew on Friday night, despite the fact the 23-time Grand Slam champion clinched the match in just three sets.
With three victories now under his belt at SW19 this year and no sets dropped, Djokovic has his sights set on a last-16 showdown with big-serving Hurkacz, who has developed a reputation as a grass-court specialist.
Ahead of the possible banana skin, Djokovic will hope to learn from the Pole’s win over Federer two years ago, which proved he has the nerve to cause an upset on the biggest stage.
“While I’m in the tournament, numbers don’t mean anything really,” said Djokovic after his latest win. “I just need to focus my energy on the next match and work on certain things with my team.
“I know I always have a couple of gears in me and I can go to a higher level. Let’s see, we’re going into the second week and matches are only going to get tougher. I’m playing Hurkacz, who is a grass-court specialist with a powerful serve.
When the Centre Court crowd started giggling at the comment on Wawrinka’s age, Djokovic continued: “What’s the problem? We are too old guys fighting the young guns.
“It’s amazing, inspiring and like Andy [Murray], he was forced to drop the rankings in the last couple of years. We had some amazing battles and I respect Stan a lot as a player, he’s an extremely nice guy so I wish him all the best.”
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