Annabel Croft delivers ‘bad news’ to Novak Djokovic immediately after Wimbledon win | Tennis | Sport

Annabel Croft delivered some “bad news” to Novak Djokovic immediately after the Serb’s 7-5, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(4) victory over Arthur Rinderknech. Djokovic had just wrapped up his 105th singles victory at the All England Club – equalling Roger Federer’s record.

However, Croft revealed that the 24-time Grand Slam champion was still nowhere near the ultimate record holder Martina Navratilova. Croft said: “I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, this was your 105th singles win here at Wimbledon.

“You’ve actually equalled the great Roger Federer who had the overall record here for singles wins for men’s singles.

“But unfortunately there’s a little bit of bad news, Martina Navratilova has 120! So do you have 15 more wins in you here at Wimbledon?”

Djokovic replied: “I’m sure there’s going to be someone else after 120. Obviously to be able to make history in this sport is a huge honour and particularly here. This has always been a dream childhood tournament of mine.

“I am not thinking about whether it is going to be 104, 105 or 106, I am just trying to win that match on a given day.

“Today I was quite stressed out, I had more tension than usual. I knew it was going to be a challenging match for me which it turned out to be. I am just happy to overcome this.”

Reflecting on his victory, the 39-year-old said: “It took a bit of luck and a bit of skill in the end. It was a pretty much flawless tie-break from my side of things. I felt I did everything I could in the controllable situations. I served extremely well for most of the match, possibly except for the tie-break when I struggled with it but that was also to do with his quality. He is very tall, he hits incredible serves and he deserves a round of applause for his performance, no doubt.

“I’ve never faced him before so obviously I was coming into the match knowing that I was facing someone who is already a top player and doesn’t have much to lose. Last year, he beat [Alexander] Zverev on Centre Court, so he clearly loves the big stage and he doesn’t get overwhelmed by the occasion. He showed that today. It was a really tiring and really close match, but I’m happy to overcome it in the tie-break. Sometimes you just have to find a way to win, and I’m happy I did that today.”