If you look at the reaction from the Serbian tennis media to this almighty grass court surprise, the message is clear: Djokovic will be a force again next summer and in years to come. One defeat doesn't mean the fall of an empire.

"Is this the end of Djokovic's domination of men's tennis? Are we looking at the end of an era? No, Djokovic will have many more chances in the future at Wimbledon," noted Sportski Zaurnl. "He was emotionally exhausted after winning the French Open for the first time, and had never been more tired before playing Wimbledon than when he arrived in London this summer. This is just a blip. Djokovic will regroup and go back to dominating the sport again."

America, meanwhile, is still processing what happened. Like many others, a columnist for Sports Illustrated always imagined that Djokovic would turn the match around. "As you watched, you kept waiting for the higher seed and better player to remember who he was and for the underdog to remember who he was. But top seed Djokovic never overcame the tightness that he displayed throughout the match," it was noted. "Most people still believed that he would find a way to regroup and come back to win and advance."

The New York Times, meanwhile, praised Querrey for keeping his nerve after the match was suspended on Friday evening with the American leading by two sets to love. While Querrey dropped the third set when they resumed on Saturday, he then took the fourth. "Having won the first two sets against Djokovic before the rain came, Querrey had a long night at Wimbledon to consider the prospect of one of the biggest upsets in recent tennis history. 

He now has a lifetime to savour it, while Djokovic can ponder the Grand Slam that got away."

If that was a strange result, then Petra Kvitova, a winner of two singles titles at the All England Club, felt as though this has been a "really weird" tournament for her. The Czech was beaten in the second round by an unseeded Russian opponent, Ekaterina Makarova - because of the rain, that was match was only completed on Saturday. 

 Reuters quotes Kvitova as saying: "I felt stuck in the second round for a while. I think that the tournament was really weird for me this time."

But back to Djokovic. In Britain's Mail on Sunday, John Lloyd has been musing over what the Serbian's departure means for Andy Murray's tournament.

 This is where Ivan Lendl can earn his money: "Lendl's main job this week is to keep Murray focused on one match at a time and not to look ahead. It is a different type of mentality now. At the back of Murray's mind, there will be thoughts about the chance he has now Djokovic is out of the way. He would not be human if he didn't think about that."

You also wouldn't be human if you couldn't appreciate the combative nature of Lleyton Hewitt, a former Wimbledon singles champion, who was supposed to have retired. Clearly, Hewitt's idea of retirement is different to how others imagine their post-tennis lives. Hewitt and his fellow Australian Jordan Thompson, who were given a wild card into the men's doubles draw, saved eight match points against Spanish pairing Nicolas Almagro and David Marrero, before taking the final set 19-17. "Even by Hewitt's fighting standards," wrote a journalist for Australian Associated Press, "that was ridiculous."

But it was Djokovic's loss that understandably led most tennis columns.