Why Novak Djokovic looks unbeatable on grass as he chases Sampras, Borg and Federer record

Novak Djokovic first stepped on to Centre Court at 1.45pm and did not finish his fourth-round match against Tim van Rijthoven until almost 11 o'clock at night after what must go down as a Wimbledon scheduling miscalculation.

The top seed and six-time winner joined a parade of former Wimbledon champions alongside the likes of Rod Laver, Billie Jean King, Bjorn Borg, Andy Murray and Roger Federer to celebrate Centre Court's centenary before play commenced.

However, the decision to begin the ceremony at 1.30pm in the afternoon meant Heather Watson's match against Jule Niemeier did not start until 2.24pm.

By the time Jannik Sinner had beaten Carlos Alcaraz in four sets, Djokovic finally began his match at 8pm.

The 20-time grand slam champion was therefore in a hurry, but after racing through the first set Dutch dark horse Van Rijthoven took the second at 9.45pm.

But Djokovic put his foot down to make sure he narrowly beat Wimbledon's 11pm curfew by 21 minutes, meaning he did not have to come back on Monday to finish the match, by running out a 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 winner.

Djokovic’s Wimbledon day began in the company of some of the greatest grass court tennis players in history and ended with him taking another stride towards the very summit of that list.

That might once have seemed like a surprising destination for a player who is not in the classic grass-court mould of a John McEnroe, Martina Navratilova, Pete Sampras or Roger Federer, but his place among those greats is already assured. 

A four-set late night victory against Van Rijthoven was his 25th in a row on the Wimbledon grass and, should he triumph again on Sunday, he will join only Sampras, Federer and Bjorn Borg in the Open era to have won four consecutive