Two things that stood out in Novak Djokovic's 4R win over Hubert Hurkacz at Wimbledon 2023

Second seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia beat Hubert Hurkacz of Poland 7-6 7-6 5-7 6-4 in the fourth round of Wimbledon on Monday (10th July). The match was suspended on Sunday night at 7-6 7-6 in favor of the Serb.

After the resumption of the match on Monday, Hurkacz pulled one back by winning the third set, but Djokovic then won the next one to seal the deal. The 36-year-old Serb will face Andrey Rublev of Russia in the quarterfinal on Tuesday (11th July).

On that note, we will take a look at two things that stood out in the match:

#1. Hurkacz let Djokovic off the hook twice in successive tie-breaks:

Hurkacz adopted the strategy of venturing forward often to put pressure on the Serb right from the beginning of the match. The big-serving Pole often played the second shot after his serve from the forecourt. He hit a number of volley winners in the first two sets.

Djokovic, meanwhile, kept defending in a superb manner along the baseline. He kept stretching to get to the ball on a number of occasions to put it back in play. The set then went into a tie-break and Hurkacz led 6-5 at one point.

However, the Pole then failed to take advantage of a short return played by Djokovic by hitting his forehand into the net. The Serb then won the next two points to win the tie-break.

The pattern repeated itself in the second set tie-break as well, as Hurkacz committed a couple of unforced errors off his forehand as the score was tied at 6-6. The Serb thus took a near-unassailable 2-0 lead. Djokovic has now started making it look impossible for anyone to win a tie-break against him.

#2. Djokovic’s crosscourt backhand troubled Hurkacz a lot:

Djokovic’s crosscourt backhand, which is his bread-and-butter shot, kept troubling Hurkacz throughout the match. On a few occasions, the 26-year-old Pole got passed by it after having ventured forward to the net. Still, a couple of wonderful down-the-line forehands helped him break Djokovic in the 12th game of the third set and thereby reduce the deficit to 1-2.

Still, the Serb once again performed when it mattered, as he managed to get the decisive break in the eighth game of the fourth set. He then served out the set to set up a quarterfinal clash with Rublev.

Hurkacz hit a very impressive 33 aces, which was considerably more than Djokovic’s 18, but still managed to win a fewer percentage of points off his first and second serves than the Serb did. Djokovic has made a career out of tackling big-serving players and the match against Hurkacz was yet another example of that.