{"id":95941,"date":"2025-07-02T15:05:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-02T15:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/novak-djokovic-cruises-past-alexandre-muller-to-kickoff-bid-for-eighth-wimbledon-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2025-07-02T15:05:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T15:05:09","slug":"novak-djokovic-cruises-past-alexandre-muller-to-kickoff-bid-for-eighth-wimbledon-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/novak-djokovic-cruises-past-alexandre-muller-to-kickoff-bid-for-eighth-wimbledon-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic cruises past Alexandre Muller to kickoff bid for eighth Wimbledon | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"\">\n<p>Novak Djokovic launched his pursuit of a record 25th Grand Slam title with a composed four-set victory over France\u2019s Alexandre Muller on July 1, advancing to the second round of Wimbledon in front of a packed Centre Court.<\/p>\n<p>The seven-time Wimbledon champion prevailed 6-1, 6-7(7), 6-2, 6-2 in a match that stretched just over three hours.<\/p>\n<p>Despite a strong start, Djokovic wavered in the second set, missing six set points before Muller capitalised in the tiebreak. The Serbian, however, quickly reasserted control, shrugging off a pair of medical visits in the third set to dominate the remainder of the match.<\/p>\n<div data-oembed-url=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vYXPOVpXiyg\">\n<p><div class=\"ast-oembed-container \" style=\"height: 100%;\"><iframe title=\"Late night DRAMA | Alexandre Muller vs Novak Djokovic | Highlights | Wimbledon 2025\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vYXPOVpXiyg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The win marks a promising start for Djokovic, who turns 38 this year and arrived at SW19 after a relatively quiet season by his standards. He recently lifted his 100th tour-level title in Geneva and reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking after the match, Djokovic voiced confidence in his ability to challenge for the title once more.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I wouldn\u2019t be here if I didn\u2019t think I had a chance, to be honest,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I\u2019ve had arguably the most success of any Grand Slam here in the last decade. I believe I can go all the way.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Djokovic will next face Britain\u2019s Dan Evans on July 3 in what he anticipates will be a lively encounter on home soil for the 34-year-old wildcard.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It\u2019s just the beginning of the tournament,&#8221; Djokovic noted. &#8220;There are many fantastic players in the draw. Playing a Briton at Wimbledon will be tough, but I\u2019m looking forward to it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div data-oembed-url=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ZOHdU0jgbpw\">\n<p><div class=\"ast-oembed-container \" style=\"height: 100%;\"><iframe title=\"\u201cI love playing here, aside from when I face Alcaraz!\u201d | Novak Djokovic | On-Court Interview\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZOHdU0jgbpw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>He also praised the grass surface that has become synonymous with his Grand Slam dominance.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I\u2019ve always felt that grass, especially in the second half of my career, has brought out the best in me. So why not do it again?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Djokovic is seeking to extend his lead atop the all-time Grand Slam standings and add to his legacy on the surface that has served him best in recent years.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Novak Djokovic launched his pursuit of a record 25th Grand Slam title with a composed four-set victory over France\u2019s Alexandre Muller on July 1, advancing to the second round of Wimbledon in front of a packed Centre Court. The seven-time Wimbledon champion prevailed 6-1, 6-7(7), 6-2, 6-2 in a match that stretched just over three [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":95942,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.tribune.com.pk\/media\/images\/news-story-640-x-480-px-611751450732-0\/news-story-640-x-480-px-611751450732-0.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}