Wimbledon 2017: Novak Djokovic battles with his opponent, his fitness and the state of Centre Court in tough win

As straight victories in the fourth round of Wimbledon go, this couldn’t really have gone any worse for Novak Djokovic.

The 12-time Grand Slam champion beat his unconventional French opponent Adrian Mannarino 6-2 7-6(5) 6-4, but was made to work hard for his win, having battled with a headache in the first set, an awkward slip in the second and a medial timeout for a sore shoulder in the third.

And that’s without mentioning that this match had originally been scheduled for Monday evening, only to be postponed because of Rafael Nadal’s epic five-set defeat to Gilles Muller. The length of that match meant Djokovic spent most of his evening nervously pacing around the All England Club: hardly ideal preparation for a fourth round match of his own.

“It was a long and very tough day yesterday,” he told the BBC shortly after his straight sets victor on Centre Court. “It was a very long wait to finally get on the court. But it is what it is, and I am glad we were then scheduled to play on Centre because that meant that we were always going to finish the match. I am just glad that it is done.”

Djokovic certainly wasted little time in asserting his dominance over Mannarino, an unusual opponent with an eye for the spectacular. It took the Frenchman just two games to play his first between the legs ‘tweener’, but Djokovic was in no mood to entertain the crowd and raced through the first set in little over half an hour.

But then things began to turn against the Serbian. Having already taken some headache tablets provided by his trainer in the first-set, he took a tumble in the second, and began to experience some discomfort with his shoulder.

“I am still managing to play,” he said afterwards. “But I have been carrying it for a while now and we will have to see how it goes.”

The state of Centre Court also awoke his ire, particularly the chewed up baseline at the Royal Box end. Djokovic frequently drew the attention of the chair umpire to the court’s shortcomings, and animatedly gesticulated towards the surface after more than one lost point.

“During the match I mentioned to the umpire that there was a hole in the middle of the court — I just wanted to show him,” he said following his win. “He wasn’t pleased to see that. Look, the courts have not been great this year and many players feel the same.”

On top of those complaints, it didn't much help that, following his erratic performance in the opening set, Mannarino began to drastically improve in the second and third sets. Prowling the baseline, his groundstrokes caused Djokovic some problems and he even took the former World No 1 to a nail biting second set tiebreak.

And yet Djokovic ultimately prevailed, and broke early in the third to ensure his spot in the quarter-finals.

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Tomas Berdych, the 2010 runner-up, awaits in the next round. “The year he made the final he actually beat me in the semis,” Djokovic said. “I know that grass is one of his preferred surfaces because he has a big serve and a very big forehand, and plays very flat. He is also experienced: he knows and understands how to play on the big occasions.

“But we’re getting towards the end of the tournament now. So the matches will just keep getting harder and harder.”