LONDON, July 2, 2016

Sam Querrey caused the biggest upset of this year’s edition of the All England Championships. The 28th seed from the United States knocked out world number one Novak Djokovic on Saturday afternoon, winning 7-6, 6-1, 3-6, 7-6.

The third round match between the two was suspended on Friday due to rain and resumed with Djokovic trailing two sets to love. The 29-year-old from Serbia started his comeback by securing the third set but Querrey held his nerves, playing the tie-break in the fourth frame really well. Djokovic managed to get two aces away, but did not play the rallies as well as the US-American. In the final equation, a wild groundstroke from the Serb allowed Querrey to convert his second match point celebrating victory after two hours and 56 minutes.

“It’s incredible, especially here at Wimbledon, the biggest tournament in the world. I’m so ecstatic right now, so happy. I played the break points really well. I was able to come up with a big serve when I needed it and just there in the tie-break I got a couple of errors and that was it,” Querrey told afterwards.

“I was ready for his strong start this morning. You saw what happened in the first four games today. He is arguably one of the best ever. You knew he was mentally tough and that he was going to come back. Taking it one round at a time, not even sure who I play next. Just be happy with this and look forward to the next round a little bit.”

Querrey will next face Nicolas Mahut, who emerged victorious from the all-French-affair with Pierre-Hugues Herbert 7-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in two hours and 17 minutes.

It was the first loss for Djokovic at a major since the 2015 French Open final and the first time before the quarterfinal since he has lost to Philipp Kohlschreiber at Roland Garros 2009. He was aiming to win his third straight Wimbledon title and secure the third leg of a calendar Slam. The 29-year-old has already won the Australian and French Opens this year, and would have become only the second man to win five successive major titles. The only man to ever win all four Slams in the same year remains Rod Laver, who last did it in 1969.

“Congratulations to Sam. He played a terrific match. He serves very well. I think that part of his game was brutal today. He made a lot of free points with the first serve. He just overpowered me,” Djokovic had to admit.

“I managed to win four Grand Slams in a row ‑ two different seasons, though. I want to try to focus on that rather than on failure. I had my chances maybe in the fourth set, serving for the set. In the tie-break, I was leading, just wasn’t feeling the ball as well as I wished. But that’s sport.”

When asked if he was 100% healthy, he told: “Not really. But you know, it’s not the place and time to talk about it. Again, the opponent was playing on a very high level and he deserved to win.”

Djokovic also announced that he will not compete for Serbia in the Davis Cup quarterfinal tie against Great Britain in two weeks time.

Andy Murray remains the highest ranked player in the draw. The world number two beat John Millman 6-3, 7-5, 6-2. Murray hit 31 winners and converted six of his 13 break point opportunities to close the encounter with his eighth ace after two hours and 10 minutes. Murray will next play the winner of the match between Nick Kyrgios and Feliciano López.