Djokovic Faces Tsitsipas Tonight in Wimbledon Second Round
Novak, the last Serbian left in London, chases quarterfinal form on Centre Court against a former Grand Slam finalist now ranked only 87th in the world.
- Djokovic and Tsitsipas play the third match on Centre Court, starting around 6 p.m. Central European time.
- Novak leads the head-to-head 12-2 and enters as the clear favorite despite the Greek's Grand Slam final pedigree.
- Tsitsipas has slipped to 87th in the ATP rankings, far from the player who once troubled Novak.
- Djokovic is the only Serbian to reach the second round at this year's Wimbledon.
Centre Court’s grass has been steaming under the sun since morning, and the queue outside the gate formed long before the first serve. The crowd knows the main course arrives late in the evening. Once Sinner and Borges open the program, once Andreeva and Krejcikova play their part, out walks the man who, let’s be honest, still fills this court to the last seat.
Djokovic against Tsitsipas used to be a match they pushed into the closing rounds, into a Sunday afternoon, right at the peak of the schedule. Today it is the third match of the second round, slotted for roughly 6 p.m. So much has changed in two or three seasons, yet when the two of them stand across the net, the story still carries weight.
How did they get here?
Novak reached the second round the way you expect from him, but not without a scare. He beat China’s Yibing Wu in four sets, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, with that familiar dip in concentration during the second set that worries fans and is then quickly forgotten. What matters is that he advanced and that he is, practically, alone. No other Serbian player broke into the second round, so every eye back home lands on one court tonight.
Tsitsipas arrives from a very different place. The Greek who was once a regular at the business end of tournaments now sits 87th in the world, hunting for the form that once lifted him among the elite. Grass has never been his favorite surface, and Djokovic is a particularly unpleasant obstacle on it. A drop down the rankings does not mean the danger is gone; it just means the motivation moves to the other side of the net.
The Centre Court program starts at 2.30 p.m. with Sinner against Borges, then Andreeva against Krejcikova, and only then our man. For anyone planning the evening, the math is simple, but grass matches tend to drag, so 6 p.m. is a window, not a fixed time.
Why does Novak still lead so convincingly?
The number that says it all is 12-2. That is how many times they have met, and only twice did Tsitsipas walk off as the winner. That is not a scoreline built overnight; it is a decade of one player’s dominance over another, even though the Greek spent stretches inside the top five in the world. On grass, where Novak’s serve and return come into full effect, that gap can grow even wider.
Still, tennis is not a calculator. Tsitsipas has nothing to lose, and a player without pressure can be the most dangerous kind. If the Greek finds a rhythm on serve and shortens the points, he can make for an awkward evening. Novak knows this well, which is why no one should expect him to relax tonight, but rather that cold, businesslike version that closes a match before it can become a drama.
A classic that was once a final is a second round tonight, yet the name still draws a crowd. The next step for Novak is the third round, and from there the road to the quarterfinal he wants so badly. If he handles Tsitsipas in style, it will be a clear signal that his form is rising at the right moment. Do you think the Greek can at least make his life difficult tonight, or are we in for another routine win for the best of them?
