Roger Federer has telling reaction to Novak Djokovic struggles as John McEnroe makes dig

Roger Federer was left in "disbelief" after watching old rival Novak Djokovic lose a horror first set on Centre Court on Monday. The retired eight-time Wimbledon champion returned to the All England Club to watch all the action from the front row of the Royal Box.

But John McEnroe suggested that the Swiss star couldn't believe his eyes when he saw Djokovic's error-strewn performance against Alex de Minaur, as the Aussie took the opening set 6-1 in just half an hour.

Federer knows exactly what it's like to face prime Djokovic at SW19, losing three finals to the Serbian in 2014, 2015 and 2019. He failed to convert two championship points in the latter match.

But No. 6 seed Djokovic was nowhere near his brilliant best on Monday and clearly struggled in the windy conditions on Wimbledon's main showcourt.

The 38-year-old was broken in the opening game of the match, barely landing his first serves in and making too many mistakes. And it was all one-way traffic from there.

De Minaur raced through to take the opener 6-1 as Djokovic threw in 16 unforced errors. And McEnroe joked that Federer would have wanted the world No. 6 to play as poorly when they met here.

"This is incredible to see him play like this. Let's hang on here a second, that's why it's best of five," the American said on BBC commentary.

"Roger Federer took the shades off because he's like, 'Wait a minute, I can't believe this. Where was this when I played him?'"

Order seemed to be restored when seven-time Wimbledon champion Djokovic broke De Minaur to start the second set.

But he was dragged into a marathon 19-minute, nine-deuce game and the Australian 11th seed broke back. During the game, Federer could be seen leaning over to speak to his wife, Mirka.

Djokovic regained his lead, breaking as he won a 34-shot rally - the longest point of the tournament - and waving his arms to get the Centre Crowd behind him.

The Serb dropped a set to Alexandre Muller in his opening match here last week but had been in scintillating form ever since. He lost just 12 games across his second and third-round matches, and recorded a milestone 100th match win at Wimbledon.

It's been a different story in the fourth round, however, as De Minaur is causing all sorts of problems for the world No. 6. They traded breaks again, and Djokovic finally pulled ahead to take the one-hour second set 6-4, saving more break points.

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