WIMBLEDON — It is hard to consider anyone who has won the same major title seven times a dark horse, but Novak Djokovic has somehow been going under the radar.
The Serb last won at SW19 in 2022 and has been in the last two finals, but on both occasions was thwarted by Carlos Alcaraz.
And indeed it is the Spaniard, unbeaten since April and 22-2 at Wimbledon in his career, whom the bookies had as pre-tournament favourite, with world No 1 and French Open finalist Jannik Sinner close behind.
Djokovic meanwhile was given just a 13 per cent chance of winning his 25th grand slam title before a ball was struck in anger at Wimbledon.
Yet the 38-year-old has not dropped a set in the tournament ahead of a clash with No 11 seed Alex de Minaur on Monday, and leads in a number of key underlying metrics.
square TENNIS I used to hate watching Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon - now I’m a convert
Read MoreStealing points
Like his great friend and rival Andy Murray, Djokovic has made a career out of winning points that seem lost. His flexibility, athleticism, speed and reading of the game all contribute towards that, but as he gets older you would expect that to fade, at least in the first three categories.
However, the IBM Insights at Wimbledon have Djokovic at the very top of their “Steal Scores”, a metric that describes a point won by a player who, according to their analysis of player position and shots struck in the point, has been “in defence” at some stage of the rally. The average for the tournament is just 31 per cent.
Djokovic is currently slated to face Sinner in the semi-finals, arguably the best baseliner in the game, and against whom a high steal score will be a key element to victory.
Steal scores
1. Novak Djokovic – 41.3 per cent 2. Flavio Cobolli – 41.2 3. Jannik Sinner – 38.9 4. Kamil Majchrzak – 38.0 5. Cam Norrie – 36.8Source: IBM Insights; top five players of those who reached the last 16
Serving it up
The serve is arguably the most important shot on grass, the fastest of all the surfaces. In his early career, Djokovic’s serve was arguably the weakest part of his game but, as one coach who spent time on court with him told The i Paper, “Novak is always trying to get better, all the time. Every practice session, he was discussing something different with his coach: the forehand, the backhand, the serve.”
His hard work on the serve, aided by one of the greats in that area, his coach Goran Ivanisevic, paid off in a big way.
Djokovic’s serve has become one of the biggest weapons in world tennis (Photo: AFP)“What was that?!” said world No 12 Frances Tiafoe, who had grown up watching Djokovic but after facing him for the first time compared him to 6ft 10in compatriot John Isner.
He is now retired, but even the lofty American might have struggled to match Djokovic’s numbers at this tournament. He might out-ace the Serb, who has only hit 49 of them in four matches, but he would struggle to compete with his effectiveness.
Serve quality
1. Novak Djokovic – 9.01 2. Taylor Fritz – 8.84 3. Nicolas Jarry – 8.78 4. Grigor Dimitrov – 8.68 5. Ben Shelton – 8.49Source: IBM Insights; top five players of those who reached the last 16
Big from the baseline
Djokovic’s backhand is not a secret. It was his superpower when he first came on tour and was crucial to breaking Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal’s duopoly, particularly the latter, because he could cope with the fierce, spinning left-handed forehand that broke down so many other’s backhands.
The power on the forehand is a later addition to the Djokovic armoury, but the numbers at this tournament make it clear that both wings have become extremely strong.
Shot quality measures the quality of the player’s shot on a 0-10 scale, calculated in real-time by analysing each shot’s speed, spin, depth, width, and the impact it has on the opponent. It also accounts for the previous shot, i.e. whether the ball was hit well to the player or not and therefore was more difficult to return.
Forehand quality
1. Novak Djokovic – 9.10 2. Ben Shelton – 8.59 3. Jannik Sinner – 8.55 4. Grigor Dimitrov – 8.45 5. Marin Cilic – 8.18Source: IBM Insights
Backhand quality
1. Novak Djokovic – 8.5 2. Jannik Sinner – 8.02 3. Taylor Fritz – 7.97 4. Carlos Alcaraz – 7.76 5. Nicolas Jarry – 7.67Source: IBM Insights
A family man
One of three men in the last 16 who is closer to 40 than 30, Djokovic has the pleasure of playing with two of his children in the players’ box.
Wimbledon rules state that children under five years old cannot sit on court, but Stefan, nine, and Tara, six, have become regulars alongside their mother and Djokovic’s coaching team.
He has in particular singled out his daughter for special mention during post-match interviews: last year at Wimbledon, he would celebrate wins by playing an imaginary violin to make her laugh; this year, he has learned a dance to one of her favourite songs.
Celebrating with the ones who matter the most We've got another Djokovic celebration to add to the list – and his daughter Tara gave Centre Court a fantastic demonstration #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/YMN0uYumF5
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 5, 2025“It’s called ‘pumpa’ in our language and pump it up in English,” Djokovic said after beating Miomir Kecmanovic on Saturday.
“She’s the master! It’s a little tradition we have right now so hopefully we can keep going so we can keep pumping in Wimbledon.”
Djokovic has often looked short of motivation, particularly since the retirement of his great rivals Federer, Nadal and then Murray. But playing for his children seems to have reinvigorated him, which might be the final piece of the puzzle.
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