Tim van Rijthoven takes on Novak Djokovic in the fourth round at Wimbledon
Top seed and 20-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic continues to make progress at Wimbledon 2022. The Serb has already tackled the first three rounds with relative ease and will be locking horns against Dutch wildcard Tim van Rijthoven.
Just before his third-round contest, van Rijthoven expressed his dream of playing against the Serb and has blitzed past his opposition with victories over players like Nikoloz Basilashvili and Reily Opelka. The Dutchman says he’s confident of facing Novak Djokovic in what will be their first ever meeting.
“Before the tournament started, it was a dream for me to play against him. The fact that I can now have that opportunity, even that we can play on Center Court or Court 1 at Wimbledon, is something as beautiful as it is magical,” said Tim van Rijthoven. “I am a player who goes into every match thinking that I can win, I will also do so against Djokovic if we finally meet, I will go to that match with the confidence that I can win the match.”
Along with playing against the Serbian, Tim van Rijthoven also spoke about his match against Basilashvili in the post-match conference. The Dutchman called Basilashvili “an unpredictable player” with streaks of really good form.
“Today’s game was not like other game, I had an unpredictable player ahead of me, a player with streaks. Sometimes he can play very well, but there are other times when he can make too many unforced errors”, quoted Tim van Rijthoven”. “For me, it was just about keeping the ball in play and getting him to play a lot of shots, giving him a chance to miss, basically.”.
The year has been an emotional rollercoaster for the Dutchman as he won his first ATP title at the Rosmalen Grass Court Championships. He defeated top-3 seeds Taylor Fritz, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Daniil Medvedev en route to the title. With an eight-match winning streak on grass, this maiden showdown between Djokovic and van Rijthoven will be one to watch.
Novak Djokovic focused to win his 21st Grand Slam title
Day Three: The Championships – Wimbledon 2022
Despite Rijthoven expressing his dream of playing against Djokovic, the Serb is aiming for his 21st Grand Slam title. After failing to grab the title at the French Open this year, the six-time Wimbledon champion looks determined as he enters the fourth round of the competition.
Novak Djokovic has only dropped a single set in three matches in the first round against Soon Woo Kwon. As the competition progresses, the reigning champion appears to be hitting his stride and looks to be in fine shape.
The three-time defending champion has won 24 consecutive matches at Wimbledon and is aiming to equal Pete Sampras’ tally of seven titles in the grasscourt Major.
