Novak Djokovic threatens to call Roger Federer and ‘stop’ Wimbledon campaign | Tennis | Sport

Novak Djokovic threatened to ‘stop’ his Wimbledon campaign and call Roger Federer instead, during a wild on-court interview with Annabel Croft. Djokovic tied Federer for most men’s singles match wins at SW19 by beating Arthur Rinderknech to reach the fourth round.

The match was not without its struggles for the 39-year-old, however, as he lost the third set 6-1 and smacked himself 11 times in the leg during a changeover. Djokovic was able to battle his way through to take the necessary fourth though and claim a historic 7-5 6-4 1-6 7-6(4) victory.

But to settle the men’s record, Djokovic proposed that the two men currently tied should play a one-off match for the record, and he even suggested stopping his SW19 campaign to do so.

“I propose a match between me and Roger for 106,” Djokovic said with a big smile on his face. “Whoever wins gets 106… let’s just stop it here and call Roger to come.”

Croft then said “I’m sure he would like to take up that challenge” before quickly turning attention to Djokovic’s next match, which he would have expected to face Joao Fonseca in a rematch of his French Open defeat a little over a month ago.

When asked how his body and mind felt as he prepared for another deep run at the tournament, Djokovic replied: “How to put in a simple term… I think I have done everything I needed to do today under circumstances that were not as good for me, maybe, as they were in the second round. And it was enough to win.

“This age and this stage of my career, every day brings something really new and unpredictable for me. I am hoping that a few days’ time I will come out in my best and more than tennis, I hope that my dance moves will improve.”

After securing victory, Djokovic put on a dance show for his daughter, Tara, who was cheering him on during the match – but did not approve of her father cutting shapes on court.

“My daughter has been teaching me but I am pretty poor in terms of the judgment of what I have done there,” he explained. “She didn’t give me a smile in the end, she was like: ‘Yeah you have to practice’.

“But hopefully there are many more dances until the rest of the tournament. Let’s see.”