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WTT Washington Kastles

Querrey Ends World No. 1 Djokovic's Grand Slam Run: Several Kastles Continue Wimbledon Doubles Runs

July 3, 2016 - World TeamTennis (WTT)
Washington Kastles News Release


A 1-8 career record against Novak Djokovic did nothing to faze Sam Querrey, as he faced a huge challenge against the world. No 1 in the third round of Wimbledon on Thursday and Friday.

Djokovic had won the last four major titles and was seeking to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to complete a calendar year Grand Slam. Heading into Wimbledon, he had won 30 straight Grand Slam matches and hadn't lost in the first week of a major tournament since 2014. All that changed when him and Querrey took the court on Thursday for what would become an epic, dramatic match that ultimately took two days.

Sam Querrey was 1-8 against Novak Djokovic going into their third round matchup Photo: CameraworksUSA

In the first set, Sam was able to use his big serve to force Djokovic to rely on his own serve. Despite facing several break points, Querrey was able to force a tiebreak.

"Every time he had a break point, I was able to come up with a big serve." Querrey later told BBC.

In the tiebreak, Querrey surprised many by grabbing a mini-break at 2-2, giving him the advantage. Despite losing his first set point, he was able to recover and came up with another point off the Djokovic serve to go up 7-6 and eventually serve out the tiebreak 8-6. The set marked the first set Djokovic had lost the entire tournament.

Ignoring his opponent's number one ranking, Querrey kept shocking the Court 1 crowd by keeping his foot on the gas and crushing Djokovic 6-1 in the second set. A shocked Djokovic looked towards his box in confusion multiple times, as Querrey pushed him around the baseline, forcing him into many errors.

As it had many times the first week, mother nature intervened as rain began to fall again, forcing both players to take cover. Play was suspended until the next day, with many fans and experts wondering how Querrey could possibly keep up the momentum after Djokovic had time to regroup.

Sure enough, when the players took the court again on Friday, Djokovic came out with a vengeance, winning the first four games to take a 4-0 lead in the third set. Though as mother nature had helped him out the night before, it stumped his momentum as rain began to fall again.

"He came out and got the first four games, fortunately for me we had another rain delay and I was able to regroup." Querrey later told BBC.

Though Djokovic took the third set 6-3 upon resumption, Querrey was able to grab a few games including a break of serve, easing his way back into the match.

In the fourth set, Querrey was once again forced to dig deep against the three-time Wimbledon Champion. With Querrey serving at 4-4 in the set, Djokovic finally broke him to serve for the set at 5-4. With unwavering calm Querrey broke right back, evening up the set on a wild point which once again saw Querrey push Djokovic around the court and forcing him to miss a low volley.

In the tiebreaker, Querrey again refused to let the gravity of the moment get to him, finishing out some impressive rallies with Djokovic. The players exchanged points until Querrey once again stole a point off the Djokovic serve at 5-4, giving him two match points. He sealed the upset after another long rally that saw one last Djokovic forehand go long.

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