"I was pleasantly surprised by his grass results," admits Djokovic about Cobolli

This Wednesday marks the conclusion of the men's quarterfinals. On the schedule for Center Court, Novak Djokovic, a seven-time tournament champion, faces Flavio Cobolli, who has had a strong start to the season with two clay-court titles in Bucharest and Hamburg.

However, the Italian has also delivered an impressive grass-court season, reaching the quarterfinals while dropping only one set along the way—against Marin Cilic in the round of 16. The Serbian, for his part, is wary of today’s opponent.

"He's a very talented player. He’s part of the young generation emerging right now. Flavio (Cobolli) is one of those new young players we’ll likely see more of in the future.

I have to say his grass-court results pleasantly surprised me because I don’t consider him a specialist on this surface given his playing style, yet he made it to the quarterfinals.

He defeated Cilic and other big-serving players who are grass-court specialists. That’s a huge achievement for him. He’s a great fighter. We get along well and train together when we can. May the best man win!

I absolutely need to work on my game and start better than I did against Alex (De Minaur). I wasn’t very satisfied with my performance, especially in the first part of the match. I know I have to raise my level to have a better chance of going further," Djokovic told Tribuna.