Novak Djokovic said talking to himself in the mirror when he was two sets down was the turning point as he beat Jannik Sinner to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals.
The top seed and defending champion, bidding for a fourth successive SW19 title and seventh overall, came through 5-7 2-6 6-3 6-2 6-2 on Centre Court.
Serb Djokovic, 35, will play Britain’s Cameron Norrie next.
“He was the better player for the first two sets,” Djokovic said.
“I went out and had a refresh, had a toilet break, I had a little pep talk to myself in the mirror, it’s the truth.
“Sometimes in these circumstances when not much is happening positively for you, sometimes these things are necessary. A little break to try and regather the thoughts and reassemble.”
Djokovic was given a huge scare by Italian 10th seed Sinner, who initially rose to the occasion as he tried to reach a Grand Slam semi-final for the first time.
However, the 20-year-old faded in the final three sets as Djokovic improved after an erratic and subdued opening.
The real Djokovic eventually emerges
There was no suggestion of the drama ahead when Djokovic moved 4-1 ahead in the first set and brought up a break point for 5-1, but his level suddenly dropped just as Sinner grew into the match.
Groundstrokes began to fly long and drop shots either flopped into the net or sat up for Sinner to put away as the Serb fell two sets behind, at risk of his first defeat at Wimbledon since retiring from the 2017 quarter-final against Tomas Berdych because of a shoulder injury.
It has been difficult to judge where Djokovic’s game is this year as he did not play the Australian Open and the American hard-court swing because of his Covid-19 vaccine status.
Having lost to Rafael Nadal in the French Open quarter-finals, he did not play a grass-court warm-up tournament but had reached the last eight here for the loss of just one set.
Perhaps the lack of his usual matchplay had an effect here, and he showed little emotion as he dropped serve twice in both the first two sets and was thoroughly outplayed by the more aggressive Sinner.
After his toilet break at the end of the second set, a more recognisable Djokovic appeared. He began to step into the ball rather than scramble behind the baseline, and a break to love for 3-1 gave him a foothold in the match.
At 30-30 in the next game, Sinner netted a makeable volley and Djokovic engaged with the…
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