World number one tennis player Novak Djokovic will be looking to win the 75th match of his career at Wimbledon on Friday when he takes on American qualifier Denis Kudla for a place in the last 16.
The five-time champion, who
is chasing a record-equalling 20th Grand Slam title, will be wary of Kudla
despite his modest ranking of 114.
Kudla made the fourth round
in 2015 where it took former US Open champion Marin Cilic to stop him while he
also has four quarter-finals at grass court events to his name.
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Djokovic will also be aware
that the last time he fell to an American in the third round was in 2016 when
Sam Querrey shattered his bid to win the third leg of a calendar Grand Slam.
Kudla, who was born in the Ukraine but moved to the United
States with his parents on his first birthday, defeated Spanish 30th seed
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the first round.
He then accounted for Italian
veteran Andreas Seppi.
Djokovic made the third round for the 15th time at Wimbledon
with a straight set win over Kevin Anderson.
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He didn’t face a single break
point and committed just six unforced errors.
“I’m striking the ball
really well in general,” said Djokovic who is again halfway to becoming
only the third man in history — and first since Rod Laver in 1969 — to complete
the calendar Slam.
Djokovic has a 2-0 career
lead over Kudla, including a straight set win in the Wimbledon second round in
2019.