Two 39-year-olds, Messi and Djokovic prove it’s never over until it’s over

“Those are the moments I still play tennis for, for sure,” said Novak Djokovic, barely able to stand on his own two feet. He had just played five hours and fifteen minutes, the longest quarter-final in Wimbledon history, against an opponent 14 years his junior. Meanwhile, he is 39 years and 44 days old and won it in a tie-break in the fifth set.

His opponent, world number four Felix Auger-Aliassime, was one of us when he reached the net. Fanboy, shaking his head, still unable to comprehend what the old man conjured up on center court, which has staged more than its share of such moments.

This was London, almost midnight. A few hours ago in Atlanta, USA, the footballer offered his own lesson in refusing to give up. Lionel Messi. Another 39 year old. He inspired a comeback that after a long time seemed completely improbable Argentina defeated Egypt in the Round of 16 of the FIFA World Cup.

“Those are the moments I still play tennis for, for sure. Djokovic said it.

“Those are the moments I still play football for, for sure. Messi would think so.

And those were the moments that kept fans up on Tuesday night, watching two champions with nothing left to prove put their bodies on the line and absorb the agony of the pressure, only to pull off the improbable once again. That’s the attraction.

In London, Djokovic defeated the higher-ranked Felix 7-6(10), 3-6, 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-6 (10-4). the longest quarter-final Wimbledon has ever seento become its oldest semi-finalist.

In Atlanta, Messi inspired Argentina back from two goals down, scoring one and setting up another. Argentina scored three times in fourteen minutes to complete one of the great comebacks in World Cup history.

Two glasses. Two great athletes. Two great matches. One shared sense of wonder among the onlookers.

LONGEST WIMBLEDON QUARTERFINALS

On Center Court, where Djokovic produced spells for the better part of two decades, there was another chapter, reaching a stage in his career when most of his peers had long since traded the baseline for the Royal Box.

He had no right to win that match. Slowly but surely growing into his talent, Felix fired winners at will, his serve and his heavy ball hitting giving Djokovic no rhythm to settle into. Fear of a leg injury didn’t help. Djokovic called a time-out, got treatment and somehow found a way to win the first set after dragging himself to a tie-break. He won 12-10.

The second set was close. 3-6, in less than half the time it took the first. Felix was crunching his forehands, hitting 90 percent of his first serves, and Djokovic looked shaken for the first time all match.

Then the roof closed at 7.40pm to hold back the fading light. Neither man wanted to close it. But it wasn’t until the roof hit that the real competition began.

One we won’t forget for a long time

Enjoy highlights from Felix Auger-Aliassimo and Novak Djokovic’s quarter-final on Center Court. pic.twitter.com/O6mxuCItwY— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 7, 2026

The ball strike that followed was several notches above anything before it. Djokovic found his rhythm on the back of an argument with a tournament official over the closed roof, claiming there was no unity when the rules were applied, that it was too early to shut it down at all. The exchange seemed to light something inside him. He won the third set 6-3 and served significantly better than Felix, whose level dropped.

What briefly looked like a routine fourth set for Djokovic turned upside down as Felix rediscovered his range. A big serve came back and he matched Djokovic’s winner on both wings, playing with the discipline of a man who had learned the hard way how to hold his nerve under pressure. Whenever Djokovic pounced, Felix had an answer ready and it came immediately. He dragged Djokovic to another tie-break, one of the few Djokovic to lose on this court, and took it.

Decider. Four hours gone and still no ward.

The crowd on Center Court wanted more, and so did Djokovic’s family. “I told the kids to go to bed after the fourth set, but they wouldn’t listen. I’m glad they stayed because it was honestly one of the best matches I’ve been on this court in my career,” he said afterward.

The fifth set was the crescendo towards which the match was heading. Felix played as a man with 24 Grand Slam titles. Djokovic played like a man who really has them.

At 4-4 on serve, Djokovic found himself at 0-30, one point out of 0-40. Instead he chased down a wide ball, stretched like elastic and found the line with a curling backhand down the line. Somehow it caught the color. Hold.

For long stretches of the final set, Djokovic stretched his back, twisted his hips between points, the kind of small, careful movements that reminded me of my own 64-year-old father’s evening stroll through the community park. He did it on center court in the Wimbledon quarterfinals. He pressed as Felix served to stay in the match and the 25-year-old responded with a blistering winner and a first serve that landed exactly where they needed it. Novak Djokovic survived a five-hour marathon in the Wimbledon quarterfinals. (Image: Reuters)

6-6. Nothing in between. 10-point deciding tie-break.

“Five sets, five hours, five stars,” said the commentator. He wasn’t wrong.

It was in the tie-break that Djokovic finally found a different gear, pouncing on every error Felix offered to close it out.

“How did you win it?” host Rishi Prasad asked him afterwards.

MESSI INSPIRES GREAT ESCAPE

Someone could have asked Messi the same question. Hours earlier and four thousand miles away, in Atlanta, another 39-year-old man was forced to work just as hard for a very different kind of miracle.

Egypt were 2-0 up, Yasser Ibrahim’s early header added to Mostafa Zico’s counter-attack from close range, and with just over 10 minutes remaining, Argentina looked exactly like the team that should have been shown the door, uninspired, rushing, throwing long balls into a well-organised Egyptian back line and getting nothing in return.

Messi had already missed a penalty, saved low to the left, his second of the tournament after a similar miss against Austria in the group stage. In a lesser night, at a younger age, that lady is a story. Argentina’s Lionel Messi missed a penalty against Egypt in the round of 16 of the World Cup. (Image: Reuters)

Then, with Argentina’s desperation off the ball the only thing he showed in the last quarter of an hour, Messi produced the first real bit of quality Argentina managed all evening: a left-footed curler from the right, whipped into the box, the kind of ball no one else on the pitch could find. Cristian Romero took the lead.

Four minutes later, Messi found the net himself, a shot that rattled the crossbar to make it 2-2 before Enzo Fernandez headed home in the second minute of stoppage time to complete a comeback the Argentine had no right to expect. It was the first time in World Cup history that a team won a knockout game in regulation after trailing by two goals in the 75th minute.

“We suffered a lot, but that’s the World Cup for you,” Messi said afterwards, characteristically underestimating what he had just done.

The goal was his eighth of the tournament, clear of Mbappe and Haaland in the race for the Golden Boot, and extended his scoring streak to a record nine consecutive World Cup games. Whatever’s left in those 39-year-old legs is still exactly enough on this evidence. Lionel Messi has scored in his last nine FIFA World Cup matches. (Image: Reuters)

There’s something almost impertinent about it, two men who could reasonably have been retired to prison refusing to let the script end the way age says it should. Djokovic, stretching a backhand that has earned the right to rest, finding a line that shouldn’t have been there. Messi, missed a penalty that would have buried the lesser man’s night, then conjured a pass and a goal that buried Egypt instead.

Neither owed anyone a miracle. The two created one, on the same Tuesday, an ocean apart, reminding the watching world why the score was never right. This is what 39 looks like when she refuses to behave.

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– The end

Issued by:

Amar Panicker

Published on:

08 Jul 2026 07:01 IST