Not any more; perhaps never again. On Sunday, after years of relentless pursuit, Djokovic finally drew level with Federer and Nadal on 20 majors after successfully defending his Wimbledon title with a 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Italy’s Matteo Berrettini.

In his younger days, Djokovic used to enjoy doing impersonations of his professional peers. How the chasing pack would like to imitate him now. Historic landmarks seem to topple like dominoes before the Serb. This was his third successive Wimbledon title and sixth in all, moving him ahead of Bjorn Borg. Only Pete Sampras and Roger Federer, with seven and eight titles respectively, have won more in the open era.

Djokovic, 34, is now three-quarters of the way to a possible grand slam, something last achieved by Rod Laver in 1969. Laver, however, belonged to an era when three of the four majors were played on grass; no one before Djokovic has won the first three majors of the year on three different surfaces. It remains to be seen whether he will travel to Tokyo for the Olympics but, were he to win a gold medal there and then go on to clinch a fourth US Open title, he would secure a “golden grand slam” – something no man in the sport’s history has achieved.

Djokovic may never match Federer and Nadal in the affections of the public – a fact underlined by the Centre Court crowd’s passionate support for the valiant Berrettini – but he has equalled them in the record books. Now he has the chance to end the debate about the greatest player of all time once and for all. 

“I probably started thinking about trying to reach the record of most grand slams and most weeks at number one historically about, say, two to three years ago,” said Djokovic. “Before that it seemed a little bit out of reach, but I’ve always kind of believed that I could play my best tennis at grand slams and give myself a good chance to win any slam on any surface, because I know what I’m capable of … It’s incredible that it’s all coming together in the same year, that’s something that I didn’t expect. But I always dream of achieving the biggest things in sport.” 

With the final point won, Djokovic went into a familiar routine. He fell backwards on the turf, his arms held aloft. He embraced his vanquished opponent. He crouched low to enjoy a mouthful of the Centre Court grass, as is his wont, and then ascended to the stands for a group hug with former champion Goran Ivanisevic and the rest of his team. Still chewing, he even had time to snap a selfie with a delighted young fan on the way back down. The man packs more experience into a few minutes than most of us gather in a lifetime. Djokovic has been living his life on fast-forward for a decade now. When he won his second major at the Australian Open in 2011, Federer had 16 grand slams and Nadal nine. He has eaten up ground in more ways than one.

Asked at courtside what it meant to finally draw level, he replied: “It means none of us three will stop, I think that’s what it means. I’ve mentioned this before many times, I have to pay a great tribute to Rafa and Roger, they are legends of our sport and they are the two most important players that I ever faced in my career. They are, I think, the reason that that I’m where I am today. They’ve helped me realise what I need to do in order to improve, to get stronger mentally, physically, tactically. When I broke into the top 10 for the first time, I lost for three, four years most of the big matches that I played against these two guys. Something shifted at the end of 2010, beginning of 2011, and the last 10 years has been an incredible journey that is not stopping here.”

Berrettini can attest to that. The Italian hammer, Djokovic called him. He should know. As the Serb acknowledged before the match, Berrettini, with his thunderous serve and firecracker forehand, had been the standout player of the grass-court season coming into the final. The last time a player won the Queen’s title on his debut, as Berrettini did a fortnight ago, he followed up with victory at the All England Club three weeks later. That man was Boris Becker, and it is a measure of Berrettini’s grass-court prowess that he fell only one match short of emulating the German’s landmark 1985 achievement. 

Berrettini fought magnificently to become the first Italian in history to win Wimbledon. He recovered from a 2-5 deficit to save a set point and establish an early lead, but his determined resistance seemed only to force the world No 1 into a higher gear. The task facing the Italian against one of the best returners in history was apparent as early as the fourth game, when he struggled to land his first serve and was duly punished by the immaculate depth of Djokovic’s groundstrokes.

In short space, the nature of the challenge was underscored further, Berrettini threatening to take off his opponent’s head with a 127mph body serve only for Djokovic to improvise a return and come sprinting in to track down a drop shot. Berrettini won that point, but its significance was clear. The Italian would live or die by the quality of his serving; once the ball was in play, all bets were off. Berrettini battered down 16 aces in all, but ultimately he could not find the consistency to wrest the title from Djokovic’s grip. The Italian made just 59% of his first serves, placing too much pressure on a second delivery behind which he won barely a third of the points.

Having looked nervous at times early on, not least when he hit three double-faults in his first two service games, Djokovic quickly put the disappointment of losing the first-set tiebreak behind him. Early breaks in the next two sets put him on course for victory, and although he showed signs of irritation with the crowd, who engaged in football-style chanting for Berrettini ahead of the evening’s Euro 2020 final between England and Italy, his focus was unrelenting as the prize neared. 

“I felt that I was in control of the match from the beginning of the second set,” said Djokovic. “It was not great that I lost the first set but, on the other hand, I felt like I just wanted get this first set over with, so I could start to swing through the ball and play the way I wanted to play. That started to happen in the first four games of the second set, 4-0 up very quickly, and I knew that at that moment the momentum shifted.”

With three majors down, could a grand slam follow in New York? “I could definitely envision that happening,” said Djokovic. “I’m hoping, you know, I’m going to definitely give it a shot. I’m in great form, playing well, and playing my best tennis at grand slams is the highest priority that I have right now at this stage of my career.

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On an afternoon rich in drama and emotion, Pliskova overcame crippling anxiety to turn what threatened to be a Barty procession into one of the most compelling women’s finals of recent years. The poker-faced Czech rarely gives much away, but as she attempted to thank the Centre Court crowd for a thoroughly deserved ovation, even she faltered. “I never cry, never,” she said. “And now …”.

There were similarly lachrymose scenes a few moments later, when Sue Barker raised the subject of how much Goolagong Cawley means to Barty. “She does,” said the Australian, who wore a scallop-hemmed skirt throughout the fortnight in tribute to the dress worn by her mentor half a century ago. “I just hope I made her proud.” She surely did.

“Evonne is a very special person in my life,” said Barty, who is fiercely proud of her indigenous heritage. “I think she has been iconic in paving a way for young indigenous youth to believe in their dreams, to chase their dreams, and she’s done exactly that for me as well. Being able to share that with her, and share some pretty special victories now with her, and kind of create my own path, is really incredible, really exciting. She’s been an icon for years and years, and not just on the tennis court. Her legacy off the court is incredible.

“It took me a long time to verbalise the fact that I wanted to dare to dream it, and say I wanted to win this incredible tournament,” said Barty, who with her 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3 victory became only the third Australian woman, after Margaret Court and Goolagong Cawley, to win Wimbledon. “Being able to live out my dream right now with everyone here has made it better than I ever could have imagined. I didn’t sleep a lot last night, I was thinking of all the what ifs, but I think when I was coming out on this court I felt at home in a way.”

The same could not be said for Pliskova. For a set and a half, the occasion completely overwhelmed the Czech, who seemed unable to draw on the experience of her run to the US Open final five years ago. Paralysed by nerves and accordingly leaden-footed, Pliskova was a shadow of the composed, purposeful player who had weathered the unbridled power of Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals. Her misery was compounded by a flawless start from Barty, who, like Pliskova, was contesting her maiden Wimbledon final – it was the first between two debutants since 1977 – but was by far the better able to marshal her emotions.

With her big serve and flat, accurate groundstrokes, Pliskova, a two-time Eastbourne champion, has always appeared to have a game perfectly suited to grass. Yet only twice before this year had she even made it to the last 16 at the All England Club, an anomaly the 6ft 1in Czech ascribed to the difficulty of getting her tall frame down to ankle-high balls, a staple skill of grass-court tennis. No player is better equipped than Barty to capitalise on such a shortcoming, and the opening games went by in a blur as the Queenslander won the first 14 points of the match. It was a Hobson’s choice for Pliskova, who was run ragged when she went to Barty’s powerful topspin forehand and found herself digging out daisy-cutters when she went to the backhand.

“Not an ideal start,” reflected Pliskova afterwards. “But I have to say, a lot of credit to her – because one thing is that I maybe didn’t really start well, but I think she really made it super difficult for me.”

Barty was not immune to anxiety herself, and in the fifth game she made four unforced errors to drop serve to love. That drew a rueful smile from Pliskova, who admitted afterwards that she was relieved to make an impression on the scoreboard, with the memory of her 6-0, 6-0 defeat against Iga Swiatek in the Italian Open final not yet two months old. “I was thinking a bit about the about the final in Rome, when I did not make a game, so I thought ‘This cannot be possible, this cannot happen again.'”

It was an all too fleeting reprieve, however. Pliskova, who had only been broken four times in six matches coming into the final, lost her serve for a third time in succession, leaving Barty to serve for the set at 5-1. Now, finally, the Czech began to relax, producing some fine returns to fashion a first break before finally holding serve in convincing style. She could not prevent Barty from serving out to love, however, and when she erred on serve once again early in the second set, the contest looked destined for a swift conclusion.

Yet Pliskova had risen to the occasion magnificently after dropping the first set of her semi-final against Sabalenka, and once again she roused herself. In the sixth game, she produced a blistering forehand winner to lay the foundations for a break. With her serve now firing, she kept pace with Barty until 5-5, at which point some athletic play from the Australian secured what seemed sure to prove a match-winning breakthrough. Again there was a twist, however, a double fault and two missed forehands punctuating a wretched game from the top seed.

The increasingly animated Pliskova won the ensuing tiebreak and threatened to seize an early advantage in the third. Barty clung on, however, and in the next game she was rewarded for her tenacity as Pliskova produced mistakes off either wing before netting a forehand volley with the court at her mercy. “Being able to reset at the start of the third was really important,” said Barty, “just for me to continue to turn up for each and every point. That was all I was really focusing on, just trying to do the best that I could on every given point regardless of what the scoreline was.”

A break to the good, Barty held twice to reach 5-2. With the title on the line, Pliskova was a model of calmness as she fought to stay in contention, but Barty was not to be denied. When Pliskova netted a final backhand on match point, Barty dropped to her knees and covered her face, her emotion plain to see. Ten years after winning junior Wimbledon, she had the title she craved.  

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The problem for the young Canadian is that Novak Djokovic is an even finer tennis player. Not as flashy, certainly. He can trade baseline blows like no one else in the world, but there is nothing in his repertoire that offers the aesthetic pleasure of the Shapovalov backhand. He doesn’t have the Canadian’s swashbuckling charisma or his restless desire to play breathless, first-strike tennis. Djokovic has other virtues. Technical and tactical brilliance. Metronomic consistency off the ground. A serve that picks opponents off with its relentless precision and depth. Breath-taking court coverage. An unbreakable spirit. Shot selection that is second to none. 

These are qualities that win tennis matches – something else that Djokovic does better than anyone else in the world right now. And these are the reasons why the Serb is through to his seventh Wimbledon final at the expense of Shapovalov, who left Centre Court in tears after a 7-6 (7-3), 7-5, 7-5 defeat in his first grand slam semi-final. Djokovic now stands, as he so often does, on the brink of history. Victory on Sunday against Matteo Berrettini, who beat Hubert Hurkacz in four sets in the other semi-final, would give him the 20th major he needs to draw level with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal at the top of the all-time list. It would also mark the third leg of a potential grand slam, something only Donald Budge and Rod Laver have achieved. 

“It would mean everything, and that’s why I’m playing,” said Djokovic, who is bidding for a third successive Wimbledon title and sixth in all. “I imagined myself being in a position to fight for another grand slam trophy prior to coming to London and I put myself in a very good position. Anything is possible in the finals. Obviously, experience is on my side, but Berrettini has been winning a lot of matches on grass courts this year, winning Queen’s. He’s in great form form, serving big, playing big, so it’s going to be a very tough match for both of us. I’m looking forward to a great battle.”

For Shapovalov, it was match of missed opportunities. There was the sitter of a forehand in the 10th game of the match that would have brought up a set point, had he not ballooned it beyond the baseline. There were the backhands he sent long and wide after bringing the score back to deuce with a courageous drive volley. There was the first-set tiebreak, in which a horror of a drop shot failed even to reach the net. Shapovalov failed to convert 10 break points in all, five of which came early in the second set, just when he needed a salve to ease his first-set disappointment. A further three opportunities went begging at the start of the third set, Djokovic serving his way out of trouble either side of an errant topspin lob. These are the moments he must learn to seize if he is to reap the rewards his talent demands.

“I had chances in every set, it just went his way,” said Shapovalov. “He’s No 1 in the world. He’s there for a reason and he’s obviously played a lot of these matches and has a little bit more experience. He just played probably better – maybe a little bit lucky, luckier than me today – in the bigger moments, and that was it. I had a lot of chances, I was dictating my game a lot, and I thought he felt it. I did everything I could today and it just didn’t go my way, but I thought all three sets I had plenty of chances, plenty of break points, it just wasn’t going my way.”

There will surely be plenty more opportunities to come for Shapovalov. Wimbledon marked a coming of age for the 22-year-old, whose growing maturity was as evident in his five-set victories over Philipp Kohlschreiber and Karen Khachanov as in his more eye-catching straight-sets dismissals of Andy Murray, the former champion, and Roberto Bautista Agut, a semi-finalist in 2019. Yet his repeated insistence that things simply didn’t go his way seemed wide of the mark. Djokovic may have been outplayed at times, but he was the better player on the points that mattered, drawing on his experience and resilience to retain control of the match. It was left to the Serb, who was generous in his praise of Shapovalov, to offer a more accurate appraisal of the contest.

“In important moments, I think I probably held my nerves better than he did and just made him play an extra shot, made him [make] an unforced error,” said Djokovic. “It’s tough to play Denis, particularly on grass and quicker surfaces, with the lefty serve that he’s got. He can hit any spot. I think he’s one of the best servers on the tour, without a doubt. When he’s on, when he’s feeling that serve, it’s a weapon on any surface against anyone.”

The same might be said of Berrettini. Yet Djokovic came through a tough four-setter against the Italian in the French Open quarter-finals, and while Berrettini’s power may make him a sterner proposition on grass, particularly after compiling a run of 11 consecutive wins on the surface, the world No 1 will doubtless hope that he can once again make experience tell.   

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Berrettini, the Queen’s Club champion and seventh seed, had talked of his self-belief before the match, insisting he was ready to improve on his unexpected run to the last four at the US Open two years ago. In the biggest match of his career, he was as good as his word. Hurkacz, the conqueror of second seed Daniil Medvedev and eight-time champion Roger Federer, was undone by a performance of power, panache and conviction. 

Having won 11 games in a row from 2-3 in the first set, Berrettini stood two points from victory in the third set only for Hurkacz, the 14th seed, to belatedly rouse himself from his two-set torpor. But the Italian refused to let his head drop, breaking early in the fourth and driving for the line to finish the match with 22 aces and a remarkable 60 winners. What a moment it promises to be for Berrettini when he takes his tilt at history just hours before the Azzurri face England at Wembley in the final of Euro 2020.

“I have no words,” said Berrettini, who will play Novak Djokovic in the final after the top seed beat Dennis Shapovalov in straight sets. “I need, I think, a couple of hours to understand what happened. I just know that I played a great match, I’m really happy to be here. I enjoyed the crowd, my family and whole team are there. I think I never dreamed about this because it was too much for a dream. I’m just so happy.

“When you play at this level everything has to be… I am trying to be the best at everything – mental, physical, tennis, tactics and everything. I think after the third set I was feeling I deserved to win that set, but Iost it. I said to myself, ‘It doesn’t matter.’ I was feeling [I was] the stronger player, and that’s what I said to myself. And eventually it paid off.” 

“So far it is the best day, tennis-wise, of my life. Hopefully Sunday is going to be even better, but I’m so proud to bring the flag here. So many great names they compared to me, I kind of feel chills.”

With the Italian press in overdrive, Panatta, the elegant Roman who won the 1976 French Open, has been prominent among those great names. So too has Nicola Pietrangeli, who in 1960 became the only other Italian man to make the last four at Wimbledon. Pietrangeli, twice the champion at Roland Garros, had advised Berrettini that concentrating on his serve would give him a 60% chance of victory. Yet expectations of a service-dominated contest in which tiebreaks would feature heavily were quickly thrown into doubt. 

Berrettini hinted at an alternative trajectory as early as the third game, unleashing a pair of stinging passing shots that seemed to unnerve Hurkacz, who pushed a mid-court ball into the net to bring up three break points. The Pole recovered strongly, reeling off five consecutive points before missing a break point of his own in the next game, but neither man was looking impregnable on serve.

So it proved. In the seventh game, an error from Hurkacz brought up another break point for Berrettini, who tamed a 134mph serve before knifing a series of sliced backhands into the Pole’s backhand corner. A sudden switch to topspin produced an error from the Pole and Berrettini, a break to the good and riding a wave of momentum after winning 10 consecutive matches on grass, drove home his advantage ruthlessly.

Hurkacz would not win another game until the beginning of the third set. Bereft of form and increasingly bereft of confidence, Hurkacz now began to look every inch the player who came into Wimbledon on a six-match losing streak. Nothing seemed to work for the Pole, his shots finding the bottom of the net or the frame of the racket with such unerring regularity that it felt as though the ball were being guided by some invisible Machiavellian force. 

Berrettini held to love at the start of the second set, signalling his burgeoning belief with a beautifully crafted drop shot. He slammed a forehand approach shot for a winner on the opening point of the next game and Hurkacz, harried and hapless, responded with three unforced errors to concede another break. Now the Italian was unstoppable, serving with pace, variety and accuracy, dictating from the baseline, and disrupting his opponent’s rhythm with some scything backhand slices. Berrettini swatted away a break point at 0-5 with a 129mph ace, and in the next game he wrong-footed Hurkacz on break point to seal a fifth consecutive break. It was his 10th game in a row; with just 58 minutes gone, he had a two-set lead. 

It was a humiliation for Hurkacz, a moment of karma perhaps following his third-set demolition of Federer. Yet the Pole has shown his mettle at this tournament, not only against the eight-time champion but also in fighting back from two sets to one down against Daniil Medvedev, the world No 2. Having left the court for the extended comfort break that has become de rigueur in such moments, Hurkacz returned with fresh vitality, making light of some tight service games to force a tiebreak. A superb forehand return set him up for only his sixth point of the match against Berrettini’s first serve. When the Italian missed a simple volley with the court at his mercy to go 4-0 down, he smiled ruefully – a tacit acknowledgement, perhaps, that the set was over.

Taking a leaf out of the Hurkacz playbook, Berrettini disappeared from the court. An immediate break of serve followed and, though he missed a match point against the Hurkacz serve at 5-3, and hit a nervy double fault as he served for the match, the outcome was never again in doubt. He will take some stopping.

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If she is to take the final step and finally shake off the unwanted tag of being arguably the best active player never to have won a slam, Pliskova will have to find a way past Ashleigh Barty, the world No 1, who ended Angelique Kerber’s hopes of a second Wimbledon title with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) victory. At this stage, anything looks possible. Pliskova has often flattered to deceive, but rarely has she looked more in control of her game or her emotions. Against an opponent of fearsome power and intensity, the former world No 1 rose to the occasion magnificently, climbing a mental mountain to shrug off the disappointment of losing an opening set in which she was repeatedly thwarted by Sabalenka’s thunderbolt serves and crashing groundstrokes. 

“Coming into this tournament, the dream was to make the second week, because I was not in the second week [of a slam] for a while,” said Pliskova. “I never thought about maybe going to the final. After losing the first set, I thought it was going to be super tough to win this match. Then to win two sets in a row with the way how she was serving – I think she was serving incredible, all my chances she just put amazing serves in. I’m super proud about the way I handled the situation out there, the second and third set, and that I served out the match.”

A showdown between two of the most powerful servers in the women’s game was never likely to produce lengthy rallies, and the rat-a-tat rhythm of the contest was established as early as the opening game. When Sabalenka steps up to the line, she wields the racket with the gleeful abandon of a lumberjack setting about a particularly stubborn ironwood. The Belarusian bookended her opening service game with a pair of untouchable deliveries; Pliskova, who started the match with a haul of 40 aces from 45 service games at the Championships, did not take long to start making a similar impact. By the afternoon’s end, the two women would have 32 aces between them, a tournament record. 

With chances to break at a premium, much would depend on who could take their opportunities. In that regard, the story of the first set was a simple one. Pliskova held eight break points in all – including three in a row with Sabalenka trailing 0-40 in the 10th game – and was thwarted, chiefly by the monstrous serving of her opponent, on each occasion. Sabalenka mustered just a single chance, on the final point of the set – and Pliskova obligingly double-faulted.

“I had so many chances in the first set,” said Pliskova. “It’s not like I would do something really wrong. I thought especially the last game I could do much better. Not only the double fault, I had two easy shots early in the game. I think I was getting too frustrated about [the fact] that I didn’t take the chances I had on her serve.”

Having dropped her first set of the Championships, Pliskova’s hopes now hinged on whether she could extricate herself from a mental black hole of her own making. The Czech had cut a frustrated figure after failing to break at 5-5, throwing her racket to the turf in frustration. The Pliskova of old might have folded. But the Czech has found fresh self-belief since hiring Sascha Bajin, the former coach of Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams, at the end of last year. Her results have not always shown it, but she has repeatedly insisted that a partnership forged with the intention of improving her performance at the majors is working well, and evidence of her improved mentality came in the fifth game when Pliskova, helped by a crunching backhand return winner, broke to love. She consolidated the hold in emphatic fashion, slamming down three consecutive aces, and recovered brilliantly from 0-30 down in the 10th game to serve out a set in which she hit 15 winners and made just five unforced errors. 

Pliskova sustained her momentum into the decider, retrieving brilliantly to break in the opening game, and served out comfortably for the remainder of the match. She slammed down an ace on her first match point to book a Saturday afternoon appointment with Barty.

“It’s a final,” she reflected. “Anything can happen. I know she has a grand slam, but also for her it’s the first Wimbledon final. I think we both have good chances. It’s going to be hopefully a good match to watch as well because with her it’s always interesting. We’re going to see what’s going to happen.”

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Having fought her way back into a match in which she had missed countless early opportunities, Angelique Kerber had been slowly reeled in by Ashleigh Barty. A 5-2 lead had been wiped out and now Barty, already one set to the good, was a point away from levelling the second. Kerber launched herself at a forehand return, sending the ball back flat and deep, but Barty crouched low on the grass, using the strength in her legs to absorb the German’s power and redirect the ball down the line for a winner. 

It was a dagger through the heart for Kerber, precisely the kind of bold, improvised shot that not so long ago carried the German to three grand slam titles and the world No 1 ranking, and it signalled the beginning of the end for her attempt to reach a third Wimbledon final. Top dog status belongs to Barty now, and having out-Kerbered Kerber the top seed held firm to become the first Australian woman to reach the final since her friend and mentor Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980.

How Barty wanted this 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) victory. The humble Australian rarely makes public declarations about her ambitions, but Wimbledon is the prize she covets above all others and she has not been afraid to say so. The design of her outfit this year pays tribute to the scallop-hemmed dress worn by Goolagong Cawley when she won the first of her two titles at the All England Club, but that sartorial salute would pale into insignificance were she to mark the occasion with a first Wimbledon crown, a decade after she won the junior title in SW19.

“This is incredible,” said Barty, who will face Karolina Pliskova in Saturday’s final after the Czech beat Aryna Sabalenka 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. “This is close to as good a match as I will ever play. Angie definitely brought the best out of me today and it was a hell of a match right from the first ball and I knew it was going to have to be that good just to compete with her, so I’m incredibly proud of myself and my team. Now I get a chance on Saturday to try and live out a total dream.”

As Serena Williams, Petra Kvitova and Garbiñe Muguruza can attest, it has not been a good Wimbledon for former champions. But experience still counts for something at the All England Club and Kerber, who won the title against Serena Williams three years ago after losing to the American in the 2016 final, is one of the finest grass-courters of her generation. The German, seeded 25th, has struggled since reaching that pinnacle, but she reached the last four with 10 consecutive wins under her belt after winning the title in Bad Homburg in the build-up to Wimbledon. Barty knew she would have her work cut out against a player who, as she remarked beforehand, “doesn’t give you cheapies”.

From the outset, the former French Open champion used her power and variety to keep Kerber off balance, limiting her counter-punching opponent’s opportunities to create the acute angles on which she thrives. A curious first set was dominated by Barty despite her repeated struggles on serve. The tone was set as early as the first game, where the Australian opened with a double fault and was forced to save two break points before clawing her way back with some powerful serving and big forehands. Barty broke in the next game, firing a precise forehand winner down the line off a Kerber overhead, and from there the first-set momentum was firmly with the Australian. Time and again, Kerber made early inroads in her opponent’s service games only to be denied as Barty produced a barrage of big serves and crunching forehands, leavening the mix with some biting sliced backhands and deft drop shots.

The German began the second set in a different key, showing greater urgency and aggression to claim an early break. She served for the set at 5-3 but was broken to love, Barty finding the baseline with an overhead before sealing the game with a whipped forehand pass. Kerber clung on to force a tiebreak but quickly fell 6-0 behind, finally succumbing on the fourth match point as Barty, who struck 38 winners in all, saluted an unforgettable victory. 

“She is a really intelligent player and she knows how to play also with her slice, and then she’s going forward with her forehand,” said Kerber. “She really served well today. You see that she has a lot of confidence, that she played a lot of big matches, that she’s the No 1 player in the world right now. But for me it was important to give everything I had on court. She had always, like in the important moment, the better answer.”

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Never before had Federer salvaged just nine games from a match at Wimbledon; never before had he conceded a love set. The Swiss made 31 unforced errors and won just 33% of the points behind his second serve. His woes were epitomised by an untimely slip at 2-3 in the second-set tiebreak. With the court at his mercy, Federer’s back foot gave way as he lined up a high forehand volley, resulting in an ungainly swipe that sent the ball careering off over his left shoulder. It was an almost unthinkable act of inelegance from a man who has presided over the All England Club with such regal authority since his first title in 2003.

Federer, who twice underwent surgery on his right knee last year, was non-committal about his future afterwards. He said that while he hoped to play on, he would take stock in the days ahead and give himself time to make the “right decision”. Asked if he had played his last match at Wimbledon, Federer replied: “I don’t know, I really don’t know. I’ve got to regroup. My goal was always, for the last year and more, to try to play another Wimbledon. With everything that comes after Wimbledon we were always going to sit down and talk about it because clearly, now Wimbledon is over, I’ve got to take a few days. 

“We’re going to speak a little bit tonight, depending on how I feel, and then the next couple of days as well. Then we go from there and just see like, okay, what do I need to do to get in better shape and so I can be more competitive? I’m actually very happy that I made it as far as I did here, and that I was able to play Wimbledon at the level I did after everything that I went through. Of course I would like to play it again, but at my age you’re just never sure what’s around the corner.

“There are still a lot of things missing in my game that maybe 10, 15, 20 years ago were very simple and very normal for me to do. Nowadays, they don’t happen naturally anymore, I’ve always got to put in the extra effort mentally to remind myself, ‘Remember to do this or do that.’ I have a lot of ideas on the court, but sometimes I can’t do what I want to do, so I think it’s a bit of a tricky situation sometimes, come tough matches against great players.”

It was a towering performance from the 6ft 5in Hurkacz, who powered down 10 aces and 36 winners while making just 12 unforced errors. In the biggest match of his life, the 24-year-old Pole showed exceptional composure against his childhood idol, holding his nerve when Federer took a 3-0 lead in the second set and driving for the line with relentless determination once he was two sets to the good. The comprehensive manner of Hurkacz’s victory was all the more remarkable for the fact that he came into the tournament on a six-match losing streak.

“After winning a couple of matches I really gained confidence, gained momentum, and I believed in myself a lot before the game today,” said Hurkacz, the first Polish man to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals since Jerzy Janowicz in 2013. “Obviously I was a little bit nervous, playing against Roger in a grand slam quarterfinal – it’s a very big thing for me, but I was just trying to stay as calm as I could. I was trying always so to believe in myself during the match and just trust my game and stay as aggressive as I could. That’s what I was trying to focus on throughout the match.

“Walking off the court realising that I won against Roger, I mean it’s just kind of a dream come true, especially here on the grass in Wimbledon. It felt so special.”

Hurkacz will need to come back down to Earth quickly. Having beaten Federer and Daniil Medvedev, the world No 2, on successive days, the Pole will face Matteo Berrettini on Friday for a place in the final. Berrettini, the Queen’s champion and seventh seed, prevailed 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 against Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime to reach his second grand slam semi-final. 

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That, at least, is one of the few available straws at which his opponents can clutch after a victory that carried Djokovic to the 10th Wimbledon semi-final of his career, just two wins short of the third leg of a potential grand slam. The 48th-ranked Fucsovics, the first Hungarian to reach the last eight at Wimbledon since Zsuzsa Kormoczy in 1958, fought manfully to keep pace with the Serb and showed impressive resilience to bounce back from an error-strewn start, but was undone by a welter of forehand errors and an opponent who, as ever, raised his game at all the right moments. 

“I think it was a solid performance,” reflected Djokovic. “I started off extremely well, I didn’t make too many things wrong in my game in the first six games of the match. I managed to close it out at 5-3. I guess one break of serve in the second and third set was enough to clinch the victory today. Credit to Marton for fighting, for hanging in there; he had a great tournament, so well done to him.

“I love this sport with all my heart and body and soul. I have been devoted to this sport since I was four, and sometimes things do look surreal for me. But I try to live in the moment, [not] take anything for granted and be grateful for every opportunity that I have on the court. Going for history is a huge inspiration for me.”

Fucsovics topped the world rankings as a junior, winning the boys’ singles at the US Open in 2009 and, a year later, junior Wimbledon. His career has not quite lived up to that early promise, but last year the Hungarian enjoyed his finest season to date, reaching the last 16 at the Australian and French Opens and the third round at Flushing Meadows. His run at the All England Club, which included wins over a trio of seeds in Jannik Sinner, Diego Schwartzman and world No 7 Andrey Rublev, has eclipsed even those achievements. Asked what he expected of his first grand slam quarter-final appearance, Fucsovics quipped: “A very good match, since Djokovic and I were both Wimbledon champions.”

It took Djokovic precisely 18 minutes to alter his opponent’s mood. By that time, Fucsovics found himself 5-0 down and contemplating a first-set whitewash. It was indicative of the gravity of his plight that, when he struck a forehand winner to move 30-15 ahead on his serve, the Centre Court crowd responded with rapturous applause, eliciting a melancholy smile from the Hungarian. Fucsovics likes to build his points from the back of the court, but rallying with Djokovic is a perilous business at the best of times. A flurry of unforced errors from the challenger did as little to help his cause as Djokovic’s frequent recourse to one-handed sliced backhands, which caused Fucsovics all manner of problems as he struggled to dig out balls from around his shoelaces. 

Having flirted with perfection, however, Djokovic abruptly went off the boil, spraying balls beyond the lines, falling off his shots, and dropping his serve for only the fourth time in the tournament. Perhaps the Serb’s confidence in his movement had been undermined by a heavy fall in the same area of the Centre Court surface that had done for Serena Williams in the opening round; perhaps he had simply lost concentration amid the apparent ease of it all. Whatever the explanation, by the time Djokovic emerged from his funk to convert his sixth set point, Fucsovics had three games on the scoreboard and a firmer foothold in the match.

Now Fucsovics came alive, serving with authority, striking his groundstrokes with conviction and even moving into the forecourt when the opportunity arose. Through it all, however, there was a nagging sense that Djokovic was simply biding his time. The Serb finally made his move in the ninth game, breaking before serving out the set with a roar. There was another triumphant bellow when Djokovic, having broken in the opening game of the third set, recovered from 0-40 down to consolidate the advantage. Fucsovics continued to battle gamely, but Djokovic was not to be denied his 41st grand slam semi-final.

Djokovic will face Denis Shapovalov in the last four after the 10th-seeded Canadian recovered from two sets to one down to edge out Karen Khachanov of Russia, the 25th seed, 6-4, 3-6 5-7 6-1 6-4. “Novak’s the best player in the world, but anything’s possible,” said Shapovalov, who struck 59 winners en route to his first major semi-final.

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Sabalenka has struggled until now to translate her dominant form on the WTA Tour into success at the grand slams, but this was a performance of real conviction. Having progressed to the quarter-finals of a major for the first time with a three-set victory over Elena Rybakina, Sabalenka played with the freedom and belief of a player born for the big stage. Her forceful hitting from the back of the court denied Jabeur the time to deploy the drop shots and variations of pace and spin that have wreaked such havoc in the lower quarter, while her serve was virtually unplayable at times, Sabalenka winning 83% of the points behind her first delivery. The predicament facing Jabeur was encapsulated by the opening game of the second set, in which she drilled a forehand return winner to earn three break points only for Sabalenka to snuff out the danger with a barrage of penetrating serves and searing groundstrokes.  

“The plan was to be aggressive from the beginning and change the rhythm if I could, because I know she can hit really hard,” said Jabeur. “The thing is, I wasn’t really expecting her to serve well from the beginning to the end. You can have momentum when you serve good, but then you can just make like second serves. But her second serves are also amazing. It was kind of difficult for me to be on the edge all the time.”

Jabeur fought tenaciously, just as she had done in clawing her way back from the loss of the opening set in the previous two rounds, and having been broken early in the second set she quickly got back on level terms. Had she converted a break point at 2-2, the match might even have taken a different turn. But her return teetered on the net tape before falling on her side of the court, and from there Sabalenka was irresistible. It has nonetheless been an unforgettable tournament for Jabeur, who endeared herself to the British public with her shot-making and charisma, and beat a trio of former major champions in Venus Williams, Muguruza and Swiatek to become the first Arab or North African player to make the last eight since Ismail El Shafei in 1974. The Tunisian leaves SW19 with renewed belief that she belongs in the latter stages of slams, and an ever-deepening clarity about how best to deploy her dazzling repertoire of shots.

Sabalenka, meanwhile, can reflect with satisfaction on a performance in which she showed unwavering belief in her game to finally draw a line under a litany of grand slam disappointments. “My best moment so far,” she said. “The only thing I was thinking about was my game and to stay focused and fight for every point and every opportunity I had. It’s surprising, but I didn’t feel that pressure of being in the quarter-finals for the first time. I was enjoying the atmosphere and enjoying my game and just doing everything I could to win the match. It was a great performance for me.

“[Before] I was struggling on the grand slams with all the emotions going through. After every slam I was so disappointed about myself that I can’t handle this pressure. I actually thought that I would never make it to the second week. We worked a lot with my psychologist and with my coach. I’m really happy that here in Wimbledon I’m in the second week, I’m still in the tournament, and I still have this opportunity to win a slam. I will do everything I can to reach my goal.”

If Sabalenka is to achieve that goal, she will first have to get past Pliskova, the eighth seed, who reached her first semi-final at the All England Club with a 6-2, 6-2 demolition of Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland. Pliskova had lost the only previous meeting between the pair, at a Fed Cup match in Lucerne five years ago, but with her serve in fine fettle and her movement sharper than it has ever been on the Wimbledon grass, the Czech had far too much for the 66th-ranked Golubic.

“After not really having many good weeks before Wimbledon, it feels like a dream a bit,” said Pliskova, who has yet to drop a set. “Anyway, I believed at some point I would find my game. I’m just happy it worked out well in these two weeks. Of course, it was my last grand slam missing the semi-final, so I’m happy now I have all of them.”

There was no such good news for Pliskova’s compatriot Karolina Muchova, who was beaten 6-2, 6-3 by former champion Angelique Kerber. The resurgent German, whose confidence was buoyed by a title win on grass last month in Bad Homburg, goes through to her fourth Wimbledon semi-final. She is the only player still standing who has previously reached the last four. “Having, of course, the confidence from the last week, coming here with a title in my bag, gives me also confidence that grass is really my surface,” said Kerber, 33. “I’m coming [back] after a really tough time. I was not playing good the last few months. Now winning last week a tournament at home, now playing well here again, that means a lot to me.”

Kerber will face Ashleigh Barty in the last four after the top seed beat Ajla Tomljanovic 6-1, 6-3 in the first all-Australian quarter-final at the All England Club since Evonne Goolagong defeated Wendy Turnbull in 1980. “Against Ash, I know that I have to play my best tennis,” said Kerber. “She has a lot of confidence right now. She played well. I know that I have to play my own game. I have to just think how to play, be aggressive, and try to take the match more in my hands and go for it.”

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Then things got interesting.

As Federer came out to serve for the set at 5-4, the Centre Court crowd readied themselves to acclaim their hero. But the old certainties are not what they once were. The Swiss netted a forehand, watched a Sonego lob soar beyond his reach, and then nudged two consecutive backhand volleys wide. He was broken to love. By the time Sonego reached 40-0 in the next game, the Italian had won 11 consecutive points. 

Welcome to the unpredictable world of Federer 2.0, a place where the once unthinkable has become the everyday, where brilliance goes hand in hand with vulnerability. We should not be surprised to find ourselves here. Federer, who will be 40 next month, is still feeling his way back from double knee surgery and more than a year of inactivity. It is entirely natural that he should be prone to such lapses. Yet that doesn’t make it feel any less jarring. It is like watching a Rolls-Royce stall: we know in principle it can occur, but it still comes as a shock when it actually happens.

When Sonego double-faulted at 40-0, the machine spluttered back into life. Federer sent an unreturnable forehand whistling beyond the Italian. A backhand winner followed, and then a protracted tug-of-war as Sonego fought to hold serve across a game of seven deuces and 13 tense minutes. Three break points came and went for Federer. As he fashioned a fourth, the light raindrops that had been lingering in the air became heavier. Play was suspended. It has often been said that time waits for Federer, and for the next 20 minutes or so it must have seemed that way to Sonego. To be break point down against the Swiss on Centre Court is hard enough; to have to stew at length on such a predicament is plain cruel. When the Italian returned, he double-faulted. Federer needed no second invitation, closing out the set to lay the foundations for a 7-5, 6-4, 6-2 win.

“I’m extremely happy,” said Federer. “Again, tricky conditions, inside and outside, against Lorenzo, who is always dangerous. But I felt that after that first set, I was able to control things. It was a great match, and I couldn’t be more excited to be in the quarter-finals. It’s a big moment and I’m very, very happy.”

Federer, who becomes the oldest man to reach the quarter-finals in the open era, will face either Daniil Medvedev, the second seed, or Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz. Medvedev led by two sets to one when rain forced the suspension of play.

Also through to the last eight is Novak Djokovic, the top seed, who came through 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 against Cristian Garin of Chile. “I served well and [felt] comfortable,” said Djokovic. “That’s probably affecting the game in general. “When I’m able to serve well [and] get a lot of free points on my first serve, when I go quickly through my service games, it just gives me more confidence and allows me to relax a bit more on the return games and from the back of the court.”

Djokovic will continue his quest for the 20th major that would bring him level with Federer and Rafael Nadal against Marton Fucsovics. The unseeded Hungarian, drawn against Andrey Rublev for the fifth time this year, recorded his first victory of an otherwise miserable sequence, beating the fifth-seeded Russian 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-0, 6-3. “I was not thinking about the previous matches,” said Fucsovics, who won the boys’ title at Wimbledon a decade ago. “This one was a different match. We played on grass. I really like the surface. I think my game fits the surface very well. I think Andrey’s game is not the best on grass, so I just was focusing on the next points. I took my chances. I didn’t give up. That was the key.”

It was a memorable day for Canada, who will have two representatives in the last eight at Wimbledon for the first time. Felix Auger-Aliassime continued his fine grass-court season with a 6-4, 7-6 (8-6), 3-6, 3-6, 6-4 over Alexander Zverev, the fourth seed, while Denis Shapovalov put out Roberto Bautista Agut, seeded eighth, 6-1, 6-3, 7-5. “The country is behind us,” said Auger-Aliassime, who will play Matteo Berrettini in the quarter-finals after the Italian beat Ilya Ivashka of Belarus in straight sets. “My city [Montreal] is behind me. It’s really good to do that, to have this much support. It’s a great day for us Canadians and hopefully it keeps going.”

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