When did Novak Djokovic last lose at Wimbledon? How many times he’s won the tournament and record explained

WIMBLEDON — Novak Djokovic is eating up records in the tennis world.

With Roger Federer retired and Rafael Nadal soon to follow him, an evergreen Djokovic has years in hand to try to write his two greatest rivals out of the record books.

He has already surpassed the all-time grand slam record, in the men’s game at least, by winning No 23 in Paris and moving clear of Nadal. Should he win at Wimbledon at the end of this fortnight, he will equal Federer’s tally here.

It would also be his fifth title in a row at SW19, something Federer achieved between 2003 and 2007.

Djokovic at Wimbledon

• Matches won: 87
• Matches lost: 10
• Titles won: 7 (2011, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022)

The overall record for consecutive victories at Wimbledon though belongs to Bjorn Borg, who won 41 matches in a row between 1976 and 1981, also including five titles, before losing to John McEnroe in the final, which turned out to be his last ever match at the All England Club.

After beating Pedro Cachin in the first round, Djokovic took his tally up to 29, but few would bet against him equalling and surpassing Borg’s mark.

To find the last completed match Djokovic lost at Wimbledon, you have to go back to the 2016 third round and a clash with the enormous serve of Sam Querrey. The American stunned the defending champion, who at that point also held all four grand slam titles, in four sets and he kept his cards close to his chest on exactly what he thought had gone wrong.

The truth of the matter was that Djokovic was battling an elbow injury that was getting progressively worse, affecting his serve most of all, and was resisting surgery on the basis of his beliefs about what he puts in his body.

But eventually, he was left with no choice. The Serbian’s last defeat at Wimbledon came a year later in the quarter-finals by retirement against Tomas Berdych, who had won the first set in a tie-break before going a break up in the second, at which point Djokovic shook his hand and meekly walked off No 1 Court. Six months later, after taking the rest of the season off, he finally relented and underwent surgery to repair his damaged elbow.

As Djokovic was forlornly leaving No 1 Court, a few hundred metres away, another Wimbledon champion was also battling his body. Andy Murray had been an injury doubt coming into the Championships but managed to overcome the pain in his hip to reach the last eight, only for that man Querrey – why is it always him? – to kill the hopes of the home crowd and send the defending champion packing. The world No 1 walked off court and into another phase of his career. He has not returned to that stage of a grand slam or that world ranking since.

Both men knew the rest of their careers depended on what they did next. Both eventually elected to have surgery. Djokovic says he “cried for three days” after his because it violated his beliefs about remaining natural. Murray cried too, at a press conference in 2019 in Australia where he thought he was about to retire. More surgery and more tears followed, but the elite titles have not, while Djokovic has kicked on and outstripped even the greatest male players ever.

For years, Murray and Djokovic’s fates were entwined, born just a week apart and opponents in seven grand slam finals. But on that afternoon in 2017, their roads diverged, never to meet on level footing again.