World No. 1 Novak Djokovic will battle an inspired Stefanos Tsitsipas on Friday, with a spot in the French Open final the reward for the winner.
Until his quarterfinal match on Wednesday against Pablo Carreno Busta, top seed Novak Djokovic looked like he might just make it through the 2020 season without losing…at least not at the hands of another player. He had been fierce throughout the fortnight in Paris and he obviously went into it as the prohibitive favorite over the Spaniard.
But then a neck injury in the warmup left the Serb in trouble in the opening set, and he was seen by the trainer. Carreno Busta snagged the first set but ended up losing in four.
After the match, Djokovic said, “Well, I definitely didn’t feel great coming into the court today…. Few things happened in the warmup. I had to deal with those physical issues coming onto the court.”
The extent of the injury and whether it will affect his semifinal against Stefanos Tsitsipas remains to be seen. But injury or not, Tsitsipas is no joke of an opponent. The Greek, into his first French Open semifinal, has played himself into impressive form in Paris.
Tsitsipas came into Paris directly off a run to the final in Hamburg, where he was just edged out by Andrey Rublev. The world No. 6 had a tough opener against Jaume Munar, but he has been nearly flawless since, downing each opponent–including Rublev and No. 18 seed Grigor Dimitrov–in straight sets.
Djokovic and Tsitsipas are not strangers. This will be their sixth meeting in just over two years. Djokovic has a 3-2 winning record, a slim margin that gives no hint that Tsitsipas is particularly intimidated by the world No. 1.
If Djokovic is at all hampered by the neck/shoulder injury he sustained on Wednesday, we may well see an upset in the top half of the draw. In fact, even if Djokovic is 100 percent Tsitsipas is capable of the upset. Still, with the way Djokovic has played all year, it’s hard to pick against him.
Cheryl pick: Djokovic in 5
Ricky pick: Tsitsipas in 5
Leave a Reply