India, July 3 -- After all these years, Novak Djokovic knew this particular Wimbledon tradition well. The post-match winner's on-court speech.

On Thursday, in front of packed stands on the fabled Centre Court of the All England Club, Djokovic stepped up to the microphone for the 99th time in his 20th year of competing at the Grand Slam in London.

"It means that I've been playing quite a long time," Djokovic said. "Nineteen times (reaching the third round at Wimbledon), that's probably almost as much as (Jannik) Sinner and (Carlos) Alcaraz have years in their life."

The mood in the post-match interview was jovial. But in that hour and 47 minutes just before, the seven-time Wimbledon champion was in no mood for fun.

Days after he needed...