Novak Djokovic could crown his glittering career with its finest moment at Wimbledon, according to his coach Goran Ivanesevic.
Djokovic – who was locking horns with 38-year-old three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka on Friday afternoon – is chasing an eighth Wimbledon men’s singles title to add to his record of 23 Slam triumphs.
But according to Ivanesevic, the target the great Serb is really chasing is to become the first man in 54 years to win a calendar Grand Slam.
With the Australian and French titles already in his grasp, Djokovic can move three-quarters of the way towards his goal should the champion retain the trophy a week on Sunday.
“If he can achieve that – and he’s the only one who can do it – it would be amazing,” says Ivanesevic.
“Two years ago he was one match short, losing the US Open final, but it would be truly unbelievable. That would be something that nobody would believe could happen in men’s tennis.”
Djokovic was a healthy 1/50 to beat Wawrinka with DragonBet before they began, with his Swiss opponent 15/1 to cause the mother of all upsets.
You could get 100/1 on Wawrinka to win the match in straight sets and 1/3 on Djokovic doing the same.
The champion was an inviting 16/5 to drop a set and win in four.
New British wild card hero Liam Broady was 13/5 to continue his heroics into the weekend by dumping out Dennis Shapalov, the No.26 seed.
Why not? Broady did the business against the No.4 seed, Casper Ruud, and you can get Broady at 10/1 to beat Shapalov in five sets, the same distance it took him to overcome Ruud.
Andy Murray was due to resume his match against Stefanos Tsitsipas on Friday afternoon after the 36-year-old produced a stunning comeback under the lights on Centre Court.
The two-time Wimbledon champion was staring at an early elimination as an inspired Tsitsipas took the opening set on a tiebreak, but Murray roared back to win the crucial second-set decider.
With the momentum behind him, Murray broke the fifth seed early in the third and stood with three set points after finding a solid level behind his serve.
In the women’s singles, second seed Aryna Sabalenka fought back to beat France’s Varvara Gracheva and reach the third round.
The Belarusian, among the tournament favourites, struggled in the early stages against the world number 41 on Court One.
She hit five double faults in the first set but regrouped to avoid an upset, winning 2-6, 7-5, 6-2.
World number one Iga Swiatek and last year’s runner-up Ons Jabeur both play later on Friday.
