Roger Federer has motive to root for Novak Djokovic heartbreak as Swiss icon helpless

Novak Djokovic is a divisive figure but many would still love to see him win at Wimbledon this summer. Victory would see him overtake Ken Rosewall as the oldest men's Grand Slam champion in the Open Era, and surpass Margaret Court at the top of the all-time Grand Slam charts for men and women, with 25 titles.

But one player who has an incentive to root against Djokovic is his old rival Roger Federer. There are not a whole lot of metrics left by which the Swiss is still ahead of the Serb. His total of 20 Grand Slams was overtaken years ago, his total number of weeks spent at world No. 1 has long been beaten, and his haul of 103 ATP Tour wins - second only to Jimmy Connors on 109 - is being reeled in by Djokovic, who is now only three behind.

One thing Federer does still have over Djokovic is his status as the undisputed king of Wimbledon. The 43-year-old won his first Grand Slam title at SW19 at 2003 and didn't lose a match there from that point until 2008.

By the time the curtain closed on Federer's career in 2022, he had racked up a record eight Wimbledon titles. Djokovic picked up his seventh in that same year, and he would have matched or surpassed Federer's total but for final defeats against Carlos Alcaraz in 2023 and 2024.

Over the forthcoming two weeks, Djokovic will have another crack at knocking Federer off his perch - or at least joining him on it.

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The current world No. 6 is projected to meet Jack Draper in the quarter-finals, Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals, and Alcaraz yet again in the final if he keeps on winning at the All England Club. And Federer, who is powerless to protect his Wimbledon record in retirement, can only sit back and watch.

Federer has won Wimbledon as a veteran just as Djokovic is trying to do this year. And the Swiss regards his 2017 triumph as one of his sweetest.

"It maybe goes down as my best win because I didn't drop a set," he said. "I started the tournament strong and finished very strong against Cilic in the final. It was the first time I won Wimbledon having had four children, and not dropping a set was clearly very unique.

"2017 is one of my absolute favourite Wimbledon memories of all time, even though it didn't have the epic five-set battles like I've had in the past. It was nice to win Wimbledon that way for a change because I went through the pain on many occasions trying to win Wimbledon in the past, so that was very sweet for me."

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