NOVAK DJOKOVIC battled past Alex de Minaur to book a quarter-final spot at Wimbledon for the sixteenth time.
But the Serb was made to work for the victory after being hammered 6-1 in the opening set, before coming back to win all of the remaining sets 6-4.
And during the match he looked visibly uncomfortable as he crouched down holding his head during a break between games.
It was even thought that Djokovic may have been suffering from stomach pains as he was seen massaging himself heavily.
But Djokovic insisted after the match: “No, no, it was all good.
“It was just trying to manage, sometimes, the breathing after thirty-plus-shot rallies from the back of the court.
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“You need a breather and you don’t have much time, so that was the case [with the massaging].”
Djokovic’s win set up a quarter-final with Italian 22nd seed Flavio Cobolli.
And he is still on course for a semi-final with world no.1 Jannik Sinner, who had to rely on an unfortunate injury to his opponent in order to keep up his end of the bargain.
Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov was two sets up against the Australian and US Open champion and dictating proceedings before screaming out “my pec, my pec”.
Following that injury, Dimitrov was forced to retire from the match leaving Sinner to face America’s Ben Shelton in the quarter-final.
And Djokovic and Sinner remain on course for a grandstand finale against Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz should they win through their half of the draw.
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