Quick Served: Wimbledon Day 5

Coco’s secret weapon, Novak’s new record and Osaka reborn

Jul 04, 2026

Context-free soundbite: “We’ve got tennis Anthropic over here.”

In the new Quick Served, Andy and JW provide the insider’s perspective on who’s looking like a contender heading into Week 2, fanboy out on Karolina Muchova and preview the heavyweight matches on deck this weekend.

📖 JW recommended the late Howard Fendrich’s article on Jenson Brooksby’s autism. Here it is.

✏️ Redraw time! The Bracket Challenge Redraw Show comes out tomorrow. Complete yours by Sunday morning.

Make sure to follow Served on socials for updates throughout the day, and join us for daily live chat on Substack.

Watch Quick Served Day 5 on YouTube

The Rundown

Jessica Pegula (Photo credit: Getty Images)

Happy Fourth. Jessica Pegula [4] hasn’t dropped a set, gliding into the fourth round and looking more and more like the favorite in her quarter. Next comes a test of her signature specialty: beating fellow Americans. Since 2023, Pegula is a staggering 34-3 against her compatriots. Her Sunday opponent is 18-year-old Iva Jovic [16], an Australian Open quarterfinalist this year whom Pegula has already beaten twice in 2026—and affectionately dubbed a “mini-me” for her tenacious game.

Back From the Brink. Roman Safiullin dismantled 19-year-old João Fonseca 6-3, 6-3, 6-3, then dissolved into tears at the microphone in the heartwarming moment of the day. The Russian shut down his 2025 season with an injury after the US Open, tumbled out of the Top 100 and arrived in London without a single tour-level win in 2026. He grinded through qualifying and three straight five-setters (the last round of qualifying and two in the main draw) to reach the second week. “Half a year ago, I didn’t know if I’d come back,” he said in the on-court interview. He’s now into the Top 100 again and the last 16 here. Even with Novak Djokovic waiting in the next round, he shouldn’t be overwhelmed—he made the quarterfinals in 2023. But does he have the legs? He has played double the tennis Djokovic has, 22 sets to 11.

The GOAT Is Eating. Novak Djokovic [7] boogied into the fourth round with a four-set win over Arthur Rinderknech [25] and broke out the viral Kayeye dance for his kids afterward. He has been in full cut-up mode this fortnight, having pranked a ballgirl earlier in the week, challenged Rory McIlroy to a game with the Masters green jacket on the line and suggested he and Roger Federer play to break their tie for a record 105 Wimbledon matches. But as loose as Djokovic looks, he’s also eating on court, rolling through the draw and stalking more history at the place he loves the most. The only grass he really wants to taste, of course, is the blade he plucks from Centre Court whenever he wins the title.

Bracket Busters

Jan-Lennard Struff def. Daniil Medvedev [8] 7-6, 7-6, 7-5
Hubert Hurkacz def. Tommy Paul [21] 4-6, 7-6, 7-5, 6-2
Shintaro Mochizuki [Q] def. Rafael Jodar [23] 1-6, 7-6, 6-4, 6-4
Roman Safiullin [Q] def. João Fonseca [24] 6-3, 6-3, 6-3

Served Bracket Challenge Leaderboard

Perfect Delivery: Fit Check

After Coco Gauff beat Claire Liu in three sets, she unintentionally flexed about her conditioning at the ESPN desk, prompted by Andy’s question about how she recovers from long matches. She seemed confused.

🎤 Coco Gauff
“I don’t think I have ever gotten tired on court.”

On second thought, she remembered one time when she was gassed. She was 14 and cramped against Timea Bacsinszky in a WTA 125 tournament. Eight years without hitting a wall—no wonder she is third all-time in three-set winning percentage at the Slams.

Andy’s point was that Gauff’s confidence in her fitness is the untold story behind her reputation as a world-class defender. He asked ESPN to find out how much Gauff runs in her matches compared to Sabalenka. Check out the episode for the answer.

Jump to Andy's Thoughts on Coco

105

Career Wimbledon match wins for Novak Djokovic, tying Roger Federer’s record for most all-time among the men

Djokovic is one win away from breaking another of Federer’s many records. These are the marks he has overtaken so far.

Federer’s Safe Spots

Thanks to his dominance from 2004 through 2007, Federer should remain in the record books for these accomplishments that are probably out of Djokovic’s reach, at least for sole ownership.

Djokovic still trails the all-time leader, Martina Navratilova, who won 120 singles matches at Wimbledon. Andy went full nerd talking about her achievements.

Jump to Stat of the Day

Tiebreak Trivia

Speaking of Roger Federer’s Wimbledon resume, who did he beat for his record 105th win at SW19? Hint: He is still in the draw.

💡 The answer will be in Day 6’s Quick Served newsletter.

Day 4 answer: Day 5 began with nine Wimbledon junior champions in the singles draws.

Men: Grigor Dimitrov, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Marton Fucsovics, Shintaro Mochizuki
Women: Belinda Bencic, Claire Liu, Jelena Ostapenko, Daria Snigur, Iga Swiatek

Quick Hits

Jack Sock attended Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding, according to USA Today. The connection? He’s from Kansas City.
Ivan Ljubicic lived as a war refugee inside a tennis club in Italy as a teenager. Craig Shapiro interviewed the former world No. 3, who now oversees player development in France.
Shintaro Mochizuki, the qualifier who upset Rafael Jodar and will face Jannik Sinner in the fourth round, won the boys’ title in 2019 and got to practice with Roger Federer. He still remembers Rog’s advice. (Punto de Break)
Felix Auger-Aliassime has now reached the quarterfinals of all four majors.
On Tennis Channel, JW reported that Wimbledon cut off the players’ supply of free tickets until they reversed course on their prize-money protest.
Andy Murray made the case that lighter rackets and stiff polyester strings are causing serious arm injuries, such as those sidelining Carlos Alcaraz and Jack Draper. Sounds plausible. (Tennis 365)
Hey, Chelsea Handler and Megan Gailey, what time does a Wimbledon champ go to bed? Tenn-ish. ⬇️