By KEN MAGUIRE AP Sports Writer
LONDON — Novak Djokovic saw Arthur Rinderknech falling toward the Centre Court net after a volley and said to himself, “Please stay down.”
The Frenchman did – and 39-year-old Djokovic dove to hit a backhand volley winner on match point for a 7-5, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (4) record-equaling victory in the third round at Wimbledon on Friday.
Djokovic’s 105th match win at the All England Club ties Roger Federer on the men’s list for most singles match victories. Martina Navratilova won 120 singles matches at Wimbledon.
By next weekend, Djokovic would love to equal Federer’s men’s record of eight singles titles, but reaching the fourth round will have to suffice for now.
“Today, I was quite stressed out, more tension than usual,” Djokovic said in his on-court interview. “I knew it was going to be a very challenging match for me.”
The 24-time Grand Slam champion overcame a blip – dropping the third set in 18 minutes – and held his nerve in the fourth-set tiebreaker by hitting back-to-back aces before Rinderknech’s forehand went wide to set up match point.
“I saw him slip and kind of fall down. And I was just like ‘please stay down’ for that last shot,” said Djokovic, who had repeatedly punched his left thigh after losing the third set.
Joining Federer on 105 singles match wins is “a huge honor and privilege,” Djokovic added. “I propose a matchup for me and Roger for 106.”
Djokovic will face Russian qualifier Roman Safiullin in the fourth round. Safiullin, a Wimbledon quarterfinalist in 2023, beat Brazilian rising star João Fonseca, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.
SINNER FINDS HIS GROOVE
Defending champion Jannik Sinner beat American Jenson Brooksby, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4, on Court No. 1 to advance to the fourth round.
The Italian, hoping to put his French Open meltdown in the rearview mirror, finished off Brooksby in two-plus hours after his opening-round five-setter was followed by a second-round win over Nuno Borges in straight sets but with two tiebreakers.
“I’m trying to find my way in. Felt better today, which was my main goal,” the four-time Grand Slam champion said. “Trying to move better. Return today was a little bit better. All things considered, was a small step forward.”
Sinner will next face Japanese qualifier Shintaro Mochizuki, who stunned 23rd-seeded Rafael Jodar of Spain, 1-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-4, to reach the fourth round at a Grand Slam for the first time. Mochizuki, ranked No. 151, won the Wimbledon boys’ title in 2019.
Also, third-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime beat American qualifier Michael Zheng, 7-6 (1), 6-2, 6-1, in the Canadian’s Centre Court debut. Jan-Lennard Struff upended eighth-seeded Daniil Medvedev, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5), 7-5.
SABALENKA VS. OSAKA IN 4TH ROUND
No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and Naomi Osaka meet for a spot in the quarterfinals after both players won in straight sets.
Sabalenka beat Jelena Ostapenko, 6-4, 6-4, on Centre Court and declared herself ready for the 14th-seeded Osaka in what will be a battle of four-time Grand Slam champions.
“She’s (a) very aggressive player, serving well,” Sabalenka said. “I watched a couple of her matches. … I’m ready to go out there and to bring the fight and to do anything it takes to get through this difficult match.”
Osaka eliminated Daria Kasatkina, 6-1, 6-3, on Court No. 1. Osaka is into the fourth round at the All England Club for the first time.
Coco Gauff got past fellow American Claire Liu, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-2, after having three match points at 5-4 in the second set. Gauff will next face 11th-seeded Belinda Bencic.
Other winners in the women’s draw included fourth-seeded Jessica Pegula, 10th-seeded Karolina Muchova, and 2024 Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova.
WILLIAMS SISTERS TO PLAY DOUBLES SATURDAY
Serena Williams appears to have recovered enough from a knee issue in time to play doubles at Wimbledon.
Serena, 44, and Venus Williams, 46, are scheduled to play their opening-round doubles match Saturday after organizers pushed it back to give Serena time to deal with a knee problem she sustained during her loss in singles.
The Williams sisters’ match against Camila Osorio and Solana Sierra is the only first-round doubles match yet to be played at the grass-court tournament. Organizers put it on Saturday’s schedule but have yet to assign a court for the match, saying only that it will be played after 4:30 p.m. local time.
That indicates that it will be played on one of the show courts, after the singles matches there are finished.
Serena lost to Maya Joint in the first round of the singles tournament after returning to the All England Club for the first time in four years and tweaked her right knee during that match.
Tournament director Jamie Baker acknowledged the match was pushed back because the All England Club wanted to give Serena “as much time” as possible to recover for the doubles.
“We want her to play if she … possibly can,” Baker said earlier Friday.
Venus played in the mixed doubles tournament on Friday together with Kevin Krawietz, losing in straight sets to Tereza Mihalikova and Lloyd Glasspool.
DOUBLES PLAYERS CONDEMN PLANNED CHANGES
For tennis players like Harri Heliovaara, playing doubles has provided a lasting career in the sport and even a chance to win Grand Slam titles, despite not having much success in singles.
Now Heliovaara, the top-ranked doubles player in the world, is among those fearing for the future of the format.
Doubles players are up in arms after being told by the ATP Tour this week that prize money and tournament sizes will decrease significantly starting in 2028.
“There has been instances in the past where the future of doubles was very (uncertain),” Heliovaara, the 2024 Wimbledon doubles champion, told The Associated Press at the All England Club on Friday. “This is one of the key moments again.”
Leading doubles players issued a statement Friday condemning the ATP’s plans, saying they are not “a carnival sideshow” and that it will be impossible for anyone outside the top 30 in the doubles rankings to make a living if the new proposals are adopted.
The statement came after doubles players met with ATP officials at Wimbledon this week to discuss the future of a format that is struggling to draw an audience.
“The ATP is proposing to slash doubles draws, gut doubles prize money, and hand Challenger entry to singles players ahead of specialists who have built their careers in this discipline,” the players’ statement said.
They said the proposal would give doubles players just 10% of the prize money at ATP tournaments – down from 20% – while halving the size of the doubles fields.
At the premier Masters tournaments, that would cut the doubles draw to 16 teams, while at the smaller ATP 500 and 250 events it would consist of just eight teams.
“Do the math on what that means for anyone outside the top 30: it will be impossible to make a living,” the statement added.
“This is not a minor adjustment. It is a plan to end doubles as a viable profession, dressed up as a cost-saving measure – and it is being pushed through with almost no transparency and almost no consultation with the players whose careers and livelihoods are on the line.”
Asked about the statement, the ATP said it was “assessing the doubles product, draw sizes and player compensation distribution with the aim of creating a more sustainable long-term model while maintaining doubles’ important role on the tour.”
It added that changing the doubles model could help increase early round singles prize money, “helping more players at the highest level to better meet the costs of competing on tour and build sustainable professional careers.”
The proposal does not affect Grand Slam tournaments. At Wimbledon, there are 64 doubles teams in both the men’s and women’s draw and winning pairs split 760,000 pounds (about $1 million), compared to 3.6 million pounds ($4.8 million) for the singles champions.
Doubles has always taken a back seat to singles tournaments when it comes to popularity and TV audiences, and the format has already faced several changes in recent years. In 2023, Wimbledon joined the other Grand Slam tournaments in shortening matches from five to three sets.
The U.S. Open last year introduced a new mixed doubles format that was played before the singles tournament started, in order to draw top names like Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Iga Swiatek and Naomi Osaka. That was criticized by traditional doubles players, however, as it largely excluded them in favor of attracting more famous singles specialists.
Heliovaara said one of the problems for doubles is that most of the well-known singles players have almost completely abandoned the format.
“We are losing the singles stars from the doubles game, and we have not been very good at making the doubles stars known to a global audience,” the Finnish player said.
The women’s doubles at Wimbledon received a boost when Serena and Venus Williams accepted a wild-card entry. They will take the court Saturday.
Heliovaara did not take part in the meetings with the ATP this week, but has previously been part of a player council that tried to find solutions to the problems facing doubles.
“It was very difficult to find answers,” he acknowledged. “But I still believe someone might have them. But it’s a very money-driven world.”
The men’s players said part of the problem in attracting an audience was due to the ATP’s “lackluster marketing of doubles, failure to exploit broadcast and other commercial partnerships, and poor event staging and promotion.”
“Doubles is not an afterthought we fell into,” the players’ statement said. “It has always been part of this sport’s identity, not a discount version of it.”
NO ROYAL BOX FOR SINNER’S PARENTS
Don’t expect to see Sinner’s parents in the Royal Box at Wimbledon anytime soon, even though they’re more than welcome.
The defending champion was asked why his mother and father weren’t in attendance for his opening match on Centre Court on Monday, when last year’s women’s winner Iga Swiatek had her father and sister in the Royal Box the next day.
Turns out Sinner’s parents were also invited, but that kind of fancy affair apparently isn’t their thing.
“I know my parents. I asked them, but it was impossible,” Sinner said in Italian on Friday after his third-round win over Brooksby.
Sinner grew up in a small Alpine village in northern Italy where his parents, Hanspeter and Siglinde, worked in a ski lodge. His father was a chef and his mother was a waitress.
“We hardly even discussed it,” Sinner said of the Royal Box invite, laughing. “They have other things to do and I understand that.”
His parents did come to last year’s final and sat in the player’s box to watch their son beat Carlos Alcaraz for the title.
There was a famous parent in the Royal Box to watch Sinner on Monday, though. David Beckham took his mother to the match.
AP sports writer Mattias Karén contributed to this story.