Novak Djokovic

"It would mean everything," Djokovic had said of another Wimbledon title on Friday night. "That is why I am here. That is why I am playing. I imagined myself being in a position to fight for another Grand Slam trophy prior to coming to London. I put myself in a very good position," he added. Djokovic, who is into his seventh final at the All England club, is only the second male player after Roger Federer to reach 30 Grand Slam finals.

Djokovic, who is on the verge of a record-tying 20th Grand Slam with Swiss ace Roger Federer and Spaniard Rafael Nadal said, "I don't think that the scoreline says enough about the performance and about the match. He (Shapovalov) was serving for the first set and he was probably the better player for most of the second set," Djokovic said in his on-court interview on Friday evening.

The Serb world No. 1, who is eyeing his 20th Grand Slam title to level with Federer and Rafael Nadal, who both have 20 Grand Slam titles, has been in immaculate form dropping only one set in the tournament. Djokovic fired nine aces against two from Garin and committed only one double fault as against five by the Chilean. He converted five of the 12 break-points and won 92 per cent first service points.

Termed 'Manic Monday' by traditionalists, the day after the rest day sees all big guns step onto the court for fourth-round action with Djokovic starting the proceedings at the Centre court against 17th seed Cristian Garin of Chile. Djokovic, the 2019champion, is gunning for his sixth title at the All England Club while Federer is hoping to win his first title here, after 2017.

Djokovic defeated the Ukraine-born American Kudla 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(7) in two hours 17 minutes to secure his place in the fourth round of the championships. Djokovic, gunning for his sixth Wimbledon title, was too strong for the 114th ranked Kudla and though the American did put up a fight in the third set, the 34-year-old Serb was relentless and sealed victory in third set tiebreaker.

Djokovic was dominant as he won four out of the eight break points he got and did not face any break point from the South African who seems to have plateaued after a good start to his career. The Serb won 84 per cent of the points on his first serve and 73 per cent of the points on second serve.

It was the top seed Serb's second French Open title and 19th Grand Slam title in all. With it, Djokovic has become the first man in the Open Era to win all four majors twice. Exhibiting remarkable temperament, despite losing the first two sets, Djokovic, 34, rallied calmly and won the last three sets against 22-year-old Tsitsipas to walk away with the trophy.

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic called Friday's semi-final, in which he consigned 13-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal to only his third defeat in 108 matches at Roland Garros, the best and the most beautiful game he has played in Paris.

Nadal, who went into the match with 105-2 (win-loss) record and with a 7-1 record against the Serb, was the outright favourite to win the match and set up a final clash with Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas. For, he had lost only one set in this year's tournament prior to Friday's semi-final.

The 39-year-old former World No. 1's last Grand Slam title came at the Australian Open in 2018. He has since battled injuries, undergoing two knee surgeries, which laid him low for almost all of 2020. Federer also withdrew from the 2021 Australian Open as he was still recovering from the two surgeries on his right knee.