The world number one, bidding for a fourth Wimbledon title and 13th major, suffered his earliest loss at a Slam since the 2009 French Open.

The 7-6 (8/6), 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (7/5) third round defeat also ended Djokovic’s Open era record run of 30 successive wins at the majors and his streak of having reached 28 consecutive Grand Slam quarter-finals.

“Sam played a great match. His game was brutal and I was overpowered today,” said Djokovic who added that he “wasn’t 100% healthy”.

“But this is not the place or time to talk about it.”

“I managed to win four Grand Slams in a row — two different seasons, though. I want to try to focus on that rather than on failure.”

“It’s an amazing feeling, obviously, to be able to hold four Grand Slams at the same time. Coming into Wimbledon, I knew that mentally it’s not going to be easy to kind of remotivate myself.

“But the importance of this tournament is so immense that you always find ways to really get inspired and prepare and try to give your best.

“Obviously my best wasn’t enough this year.”