With Roger Federer, an eight-time Wimbledon winner, sitting in the front row of the Royal Box, so little went right at the outset for the 38-year-old Djokovic on the grass below during a breezy afternoon with the temperature in the 60s Fahrenheit (teens Celsius), a week after matches were contested in record-breaking heat.

Novak Djokovic reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the 16th time but it proved a hard day's work at his Centre Court office as he ground past Australian Alex de Minaur on Monday.