- Serb aiming for sixth Wimbledon title in 30th grand slam final
- Djokovic eases to 7-6 (3), 7-5, 7-5 victory on Centre Court
As Novak Djokovic finished his final stretches in the hallway before entering Centre Court on Friday, he took a lengthy glance to his left at the names of each former Wimbledon champion listed on the wall by the court entrance. There his own name sat, indelibly engraved in gold lettering five times on the board. When he walked by it again just over two hours, 44 minutes later, he had moved to within one win of adding his name once again.
He did so without even playing particularly well for large stretches of the first two tough sets, instead rising to the challenge of almost every big point and producing his typically resolute, nerveless tennis when it mattered to defeat Denis Shapovalov 7-6 (3), 7-5, 7-5 and reach his seventh career Wimbledon final. He will face Matteo Berrettini, the 7th seed, in a clash anticipated by many before the tournament.