Lajovic Reaches Wimbledon Qualifying Final, Djere Out

The grass courts in west London can be treacherous. The ball does not bounce the way it does on clay, the first steps slide, and a point can be over before you have even settled into it. In that setting, where Serbian players have historically struggled, Dusan Lajovic played a match without a trace of panic. Against Chris Rhodes of Luxembourg, he looked like a man who knew exactly where he wanted to end up.

He got there quickly and cleanly. Lajovic won 6-2, 6-4 to reach the qualifying final, which leaves him just one victory away from the Wimbledon main draw. For someone who built his career mostly on slower surfaces, this is a valuable result on grass, a court that has never been his closest ally.

Numbers you can see with the naked eye

The figures from this match are no great mystery, but they speak of control. Lajovic broke early in the first set and never let his opponent find a rhythm, then managed the second calmly, holding his serve and waiting for an opening. Rhodes, lower ranked and untested at this level, simply did not have the weapons to turn the tide.

In the qualifying final, Lajovic awaits the winner of the match between Vilius Gaubas and Henry Searle. Whoever comes through, the Serb enters as the favourite on reputation, but grass does not care about reputation. It punishes a slow start and rewards the player who imposes the tempo first.

On the other side of the draw, the news was better for American tennis than for Serbian. Laslo Djere lost his second qualifying round to Michael Zheng 7-5, 6-3, ending his run before the real thing even began. The first set was decided right at the finish, where Djere lost his focus on the key points, and in the second he no longer had the energy to recover.

What comes next for Serbian tennis on grass?

The calendar is now clear. The Wimbledon main draw will be made on Friday, June 26, with the tournament itself starting June 29. Novak Djokovic arrives as the seventh seed, with the credit he always carries on grass, but he is only at the start of his story. For Lajovic, everything is far more concrete and far closer. One match stands between him and a place on the big board.

If Lajovic clears that final qualifying hurdle, Serbia will have more than one card to play in the men’s draw at Wimbledon, which is no small thing on this surface. Djere’s exit stings, because on a good day he can beat anyone, but this time the grass was not his.

We will see on Friday, when the draw shows just how close Lajovic really is to the main stage. Do you think he can hold his nerve for that last step into the main draw?