Somehow, the 39-year-old Novak Djokovic had never played the 30-year-old Arthur Rinderknech in an ATP match before they faced each other in the third round at Wimbledon on Friday. While Djokovic is by far the more accomplished player, Rinderknech had a slight advantage in one area.
That is the simple fact that they hadn't played. Djokovic couldn't be completely sure what the Frenchman might try to do against him. Rinderknech had watched many players take on the Serbian and fail. Maybe he would try something different.
The issue in the first two sets was that Rinderknech allowed Djokovic to do something he is inarguably the best to ever do in tennis. Some players have had more power, and some might have been faster at the height of their careers, but no one has played the angles better than the 24-time Grand Slam winner over the course of their career.
Novak Djokovc survives Arthur Rinderknech at Wimbledon 2026
Whenever Djokovic got into trouble, he relied on his elite eye-to-hand skills to maneuver his opponent around the court, slowly coiling Rinderknech into stressful situations as a python might do to its prey. Still, even though the Serbian won the first two sets 7-5, 6-4, one does have to win three sets in a men's major tournament, so the Frenchman had time to get back into the match.
He did that in set three, getting a break off Djokovic and then a hold, so that Rinderknech was trending toward forcing a fourth set. He was down by two sets, but the match had been so tightly played that the outcome was still in doubt. Which is why the third set was so shocking. Rinderknech got another break and hold, and he was up 5-0 in a matter of minutes and took the set 6-1.
The fourth set reverted to the form of the first two. Each player kept holding serve, though at times under great duress without ever facing a break point. By 5-all, the set appeared headed to a tie-break, an aspect of tennis that Djokovic normally dominates. His career record of winning tie-breaks 66.3 percent of the time is higher than Roger Federer (65.4 percent) and Rafael Nala (61 percent).
In a stellar finish, Djokovic took the tie-break 7-4 on a miraculous final point of the match. Rinderknech had dived for a shot that landed just over the net, but the Serbian was able to chase the ball down and hit a lob while the Frenchman was left lying on the grass.
Novak Djokovic will next take on Roman Safiullin, who was brilliant in his third-round match against Joao Fonseca, in the fourth round of Wimbledon 2026. Djokovic has reached the fourth round in London 18 times.
