Novak Djokovic reached the 2026 Wimbledon quarterfinals on Monday with a 7-6(6), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Russian qualifier Roman Safiullin, and in doing so claimed sole ownership of yet another All England Club record. The win was Djokovic's 106th at Wimbledon, surpassing the men's mark previously held by eight-time champion Roger Federer. For a player who has spent the better part of two decades rewriting the tournament's history books, it was, somehow, another first.
The match itself was workmanlike by Djokovic's standards - a tight first set that required a tiebreak, a comfortable second, a dropped third in which Safiullin found his range, and then a controlled fourth to close it out. Nothing flashy, but nothing troubled either. The Serb remains capable of turning the dial up or down almost at will on grass, and Safiullin, despite a creditable display, was never able to sustain the pressure required to genuinely unsettle him. In a week when the sports world has been buzzing across codes - tottenham target rashford newcastle tonali has dominated football transfer talk - Centre Court once again belonged to a man making his own kind of headline.
The record milestone invited reflection on a Wimbledon career that stretches back to 2005, when an 18-year-old Djokovic arrived as a qualifier and left having announced himself to the grass-court world in the most dramatic fashion. Over the two decades that followed, he has produced some of the most significant matches in the tournament's history - not just as a winner, but as a competitor who consistently elevated the occasions he was involved in.
The 10 Greatest Djokovic Wins at Wimbledon, Ranked
In observance of the milestone, here is a ranking of Djokovic's 10 best wins at the All England Club, weighed by significance, performance quality, and entertainment value. Please argue in the comments.
10. Second round, 2005: Defeats Guillermo García López 3-6, 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(3), 6-4
This was Djokovic's first Wimbledon, which he entered as a qualifier having just turned 18. In the second round against world No. 81 García López, he trailed by two sets to love and saved six match points before coming back to win in five. It also carried him into the world's top 100 for the first time - a small but significant step on a journey no one could yet fully imagine.
9. Final, 2022: Defeats Nick Kyrgios 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(3)
Not Djokovic's most memorable final, but a significant one. A seventh Wimbledon title drew him level with Pete Sampras and moved him to within one of Federer in the all-time standings. Kyrgios had won their two previous meetings and took the first set, but Djokovic didn't drop his serve again. It extended his unbeaten Centre Court run to 39 consecutive matches - dating back to Andy Murray's 2013 final victory. "In best-of-five against these guys," Kyrgios said afterwards, "you feel like if you win the first set, you still have to climb up Mount Everest to get it done."
8. Fourth round, 2024: Defeats Holger Rune (15) 6-3, 6-4, 6-2
A match that summed up late-career Djokovic in three acts. He schooled a 21-year-old who had already cracked the world's top five. He did so having had knee surgery only weeks before the tournament. And he turned the energy of a crowd chanting "Ruuuuuuune" - which he took as booing - into fuel, dispatching Rune in just over two hours before delivering one of his most entertainingly prickly on-court interviews. "To all those people who have chosen to disrespect the player - in this case, me - have a goooooood night," he told the crowd. Pantomime villain. Extremely good television.
7. Final, 2015: Defeats Roger Federer (2) 7-6(1), 6-7(10), 6-4, 6-3
The most comfortable of Djokovic's three Wimbledon final wins over Federer, and the only one that didn't go to five sets. This was Djokovic at close to his absolute peak - he won 82 of 88 matches that year, one win short of a calendar Grand Slam. The second set produced a tiebreak of the highest quality, Federer saving seven set points before winning it 12-10. Like Björn Borg against John McEnroe in 1980, Djokovic lost the tiebreak and still won the match.
6. Quarterfinal, 2007: Defeats Marcos Baghdatis (10) 7-6(4), 7-6(9), 6-7(3), 4-6, 7-5
A minute short of five hours, and requiring a police presence in the crowd. This was the pre-Grand Slam Djokovic - capable and combustible - blowing a two-set lead against a brilliantly unpredictable Baghdatis before ultimately hauling himself over the line. He smashed a racket and received a code violation warning in the process. "The atmosphere was fantastic," Djokovic said afterwards. "This is some of the best tennis I have ever played."
5. Final, 2011: Defeats Rafael Nadal (1) 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3
Too one-sided to be a classic, but enormously consequential. Djokovic's first Wimbledon title also handed him his first week as world No. 1, and ended Nadal's unbeaten run at the tournament at 20 matches across four years. He served better, attacked the Nadal backhand relentlessly, and delivered in the clutch moments. When it was over, Djokovic ate some of the Wimbledon grass. It felt like a symbolic marking of territory. Six more titles followed.
4. Semifinal, 2013: Defeats Juan Martín del Potro (8) 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-7(6), 6-3
Then the longest Wimbledon semifinal in history, at four hours and 43 minutes. Djokovic had two match points in a fourth-set tiebreak and couldn't convert, as the beloved 2009 U.S. Open champion del Potro forced a fifth. Djokovic refocused and got it done, though the physical cost likely weakened him for the final against Murray two days later. "It was one of the best matches I've been a part of," he said.
3. Final, 2014: Defeats Roger Federer (4) 6-7(7), 6-4, 7-6(4), 5-7, 6-4
Djokovic had lost five of his previous six Grand Slam finals. He failed to serve out this one in the fourth set, then had a championship point erased by a Federer ace. As statisticians dug up John Bromwich's 1948 capitulation as the relevant precedent, Djokovic found a second wind and won the fifth. Boris Becker, by then his coach, said: "We were all dying out there, keeping it cool from the outside, but burning up inside." Djokovic called it "probably the best Grand Slam final I have ever played in my life."
2. Semifinal, 2018: Defeats Rafael Nadal (2) 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(11), 3-6, 10-8
Effectively a final - Kevin Anderson, the actual finalist, was so spent after a six-hour-and-36-minute semifinal against John Isner that the winner of this match was already the champion in all but ceremony. Djokovic and Nadal's match was split over two days after running too late on the Friday, played under the Centre Court roof both evenings due to a rule - since revised - requiring identical conditions for a resumed match. Nadal twice had break points in the final set that would have left him serving for the match. Djokovic saved the decisive one with a spectacular forehand pass and eventually won 10-8 in the decider, in the last year Wimbledon played without a final-set tiebreak. He hadn't won a Grand Slam in over two years, had fallen outside the top 20, and had suggested before the grass-court season that he might skip it entirely. He won the title and promptly won four of the next five majors.
1. Final, 2019: Defeats Roger Federer (2) 7-6(5), 1-6, 7-6(4), 4-6, 13-12(3)
The longest final in Wimbledon history at four hours and 57 minutes, and one of the most significant matches of the modern era. Federer served for the title in the fifth set, held two championship points at 8-7, 40-15, and came within one shot of a 21st Grand Slam title. Djokovic saved both. On the second, Federer played a hesitant approach and Djokovic delivered a forehand pass hauntingly similar to the one he had used against Nadal in that semifinal a year earlier. He broke, survived two break points at 11-11 with daring net attacks, and won the final-set tiebreak - that year played at 12-12 - to claim a fifth Wimbledon title. The image of a spectator raising a finger and mouthing "one more" as Federer went to serve for the championship entered tournament folklore immediately. So did Djokovic's press conference observation: "When the crowd chants 'Roger', I hear 'Novak'." The crowd was overwhelmingly against him. He won anyway. He always did.
What Comes Next
With 106 Wimbledon wins now to his name and a quarterfinal place secured, Djokovic continues to operate in a space beyond reasonable historical comparison. The record he has broken belonged to a player - Federer - who many considered the greatest grass-court competitor who ever lived. That Djokovic holds it now, and continues to add to it, is simply the latest chapter in a career that has consistently refused to accept the limits others have placed on it.
