Stefan Djokovic sat with head bowed, his glum expression only partially obscured by the peak of a cap decorated with the signatures of the men who have ended his father’s reign.
There is the scrawl of Carlos Alcaraz, who destroyed his dad in last year’s Wimbledon final, and the mark of Jannik Sinner, who yesterday inflicted Novak Djokovic’s worst ever defeat at Wimbledon.
Never has the seven-time champion won fewer than the 10 games he managed here; never has defeat in a completed match come so quickly as this one hour and 55 minute dissection.
Djokovic looked increasingly troubled by an awkward slip against Flavio Cobolli in the quarter-finals and afterwards admitted the reality of his ageing body had hit him ‘like never before’.
‘It wasn’t a pleasant feeling,’ said Djokovic. ‘I don’t want to whine about my injury I want to congratulate Jannik, he was too strong.
‘But I do feel disappointed I wasn’t able to move as well as I thought or hoped that I would.’
Jannik Sinner reached his first ever Wimbledon final by defeating Djokovic in straight sets
The Italian, 23, dispatched the seven-time champion in straight sets in just 1 hour 55 minutes
Buried in the brutality of this scoreline was a surge from Novak Djokovic in the third set
In witnessing this 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 defeat, perhaps 11-year-old Stefan felt a measure of embarrassment in seeing his father so humbled. But when he grows a little older he will look back on this day with pride. He will realise how heroic are this 38-year-old champion’s efforts to keep pace with two luminous talents.
Buried in the brutality of this scoreline was a surge from Djokovic in the third set. He launched a net-rushing counter-attack, broke for 2-0 and gave his first ‘C’mon’, sending a shiver through 15,000 spines. ‘Nole, Nole, Nole’ – the chant throbbed around a sweltering Centre Court.
Djokovic interrupted the Federer-Nadal love-in here and fans did not like it. As his career comes full circle with a doomed attempt to break a new duopoly, he is finally feeling the love from the Wimbledon crowd.
You may know the famous quote from Batman film The Dark Knight: ‘You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.’ Djokovic has reversed that: in refusing to retire as a villain, he has played on long enough to see himself become the hero.
He has now reached the semi-finals of each Grand Slam this year but in Australia was forced out by a muscle tear and was compromised again here.
‘I don’t think it’s bad fortune it’s just age, wear and tear of the body,’ said Djokovic. ‘The reality hits me in the last year and a half like never before.
‘These guys are fit, young, sharp. I feel like I’m going into the match with my tank half empty and it’s just not possible to win like that.
‘I don’t know what I can do differently, to be honest. The hours I spend on a daily basis to take care of myself… I’d challenge anyone on the tour to take care of themselves more than me. Unfortunately, I don’t get rewarded for that right now, but I was rewarded for many, many years.
Stefan Djokovic (right, in the player’s box) who sat with his head bowler after Sinner’s victory, wore a cap decorated with the signatures of the men who have ended his father’s reign
Never has seven-time champion Djokovic won fewer than the 10 games he managed here
Jannik Sinner’s victory sets up a mouthwatering Wimbledon final clash against Carlos Alcaraz
‘I have gotten so much in my career that it would be a disservice to God, my body and my career to start complaining about injuries.’
All that being said, at last month’s French Open Djokovic was fully fit and still lost in straight sets to Sinner. He has lost to the Italian five times in a row; Sinner plays with the same relentless precision, returns with the same venom, but does everything faster and harder.
Djokovic is like the victim of a capricious Greek god, doomed to face a mirror image of himself which becomes more potent as he grows older.
And yet he could so easily have found himself in the final, were it not for a tear of Grigor Dimitrov’s pectoral muscle. The Bulgarian was leading Sinner by two sets to love in the fourth round when he fell to the court with a scream of pain.
Sinner was on his way out but now is into a first Wimbledon final, where he will seek revenge for Alcaraz’s miraculous, five and a half hour victory at the French Open.
The final word to Djokovic: ‘I’m not planning to finish my Wimbledon career today. I’m planning to come back at least one more time.’
