Novak Djokovic beat Roman Safiullin 7-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 on Sunday to advance to the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the 17th time in his career, and in doing so recorded his 106th match win at the All England Club, breaking Roger Federer's record for the most by any man in tournament history.
When told about the milestone afterward he was entirely unbothered. "Not on my priority list," Djokovic said. "Didn't even know about it until after the last match win. That's really quite insignificant to me at the moment."
The match lasted three hours and 26 minutes, his longest at Wimbledon since the 2023 final, and included what Djokovic himself called "meltdowns."
He had to save two set points trailing 5-2 in the first set, was warned for yelling an obscenity in Serbian in the third and drew boos when he hit the ball away in frustration after losing it.
He apologized in his on-court interview. Then he went out and won the fourth set to love.
The record he actually cares about is sitting at 24 Grand Slam titles, one behind Federer's 25, which would make him the first man or woman ever to win 25 major trophies.
He is also chasing his eighth Wimbledon title to match Federer's record there. He will face third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in the quarterfinals.
He is 38 years old. He is the third oldest man to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals in the Open era, behind Federer in 2021 and Ken Rosewall in 1974.
"Survive to thrive," he said of his first week. "Hopefully the thriving part is coming."