Safin topples Djokovic at Wimbledon

Russian Marat Safin surprised all, including himself, by dumping third seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the second round at Wimbledon on Wednesday.

Having booked on a flight home Wednesday evening, Safin, 28, had a surprising win of 6-4, 7-6 and 6-2 over Djokovic to continue his journey at the Grand Slam tournament.

"There is a flight at 8.30 leaving every evening, so I was almost there," said Safin, "You play against (Djokovic), and the last time I won two matches in a row was... I don't remember. So what do you expect?"

"I didn't play great for a long time. I don't even remember how it feels. It was a long time ago I played like that and I hope I can get better."

Safin thrashed Pete Sampras to win the U.S. Open in 2000 and topped the rankings soon afterwards.

Eight years later and despite a victory at the Australian Open in 2005, his ranking is down at 75 and this season has been dismal, until now.

With the win, Safin has a third round meeting with Italian Andreas Seppi, a repetition of his run to the last eight in 2001.