India, July 9 -- Side to side. Corner to corner. Novak Djokovic kept pushing Felix Auger-Aliassime back and forth along the Centre Court baseline at Wimbledon to retrieve one shot after another.

Finally, on the 22nd shot of a grueling rally deep in a fifth-set super tiebreaker, Auger-Aliassime had a forehand in the middle of the court. Under normal circumstances, it might have been just the shot he was looking for.

Not this time. Not after five hours of battling with the 39-year-old Djokovic.

Auger-Aliassime, a 25-year-old Canadian with one of the top-rated forehands on tour, had nothing left in his tank. He sprayed his forehand wide to give Djokovic a 9-4 lead. Then both players bent over in exhaustion and leaned on their rackets. Djo...