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
Omg!!
Yes, fifth set here we go! Come on Tsitsipas, fight!
Good God! 3 egregious errors by Novak and he loses the fourth set. All his clutch play has gone out the window.
This set will tell what tsitsi is made of… the ultimates test..
be on the look out for a trainer.
LOL! I haven’t been watching, assumed it was long over then took a look. My, my. Expect Djoko to win, he has his little ways, but thanks, Tsitsi, for extending him to 5! Well done!
Forgive the colloquialism, but Tsitsipas with a brass pair today. Wowzers.
Some cojones!
Testebrass you mean!😅
I do indeed. 🙂
Shirley that’s it?!
Tsitsi at least showed that novak is vulnerable… this is what flummoxes me.. he came down like a house when he went a break down to pcb at the uso.. here when there were actually grounds for doing that or at the wimbledon final he was uber calm and is going to cross the line
What’s the point of fighting so hard to push it to the fifth set and then loses so meekly? Tsitsipas can never overcome his five setters blues, losing them so often. Why is his fitness so poor, poorer than a 33 year old!
He was out on his feet!
But a 34 year old being physically fresher at the end as compred to a 22 yr old is indeed astonishing
Congrats to Novak fans! Especially Elizabeth!
Rafa better up his level in the final, he playing like today is not going to beat Djoko.
Rafa especially in the 3rd set did some errors uncharacteristic to him. He invited Schwartz back into the game for a while. The Argentine was spent and totally lacking the spark he had vs Thiem. But he deserves to be given credit for having played a lot of tennis recently.
At this point it’s a mental game between Djoko vs Rafa. Both have chances.
Let’s go Nole, played 2 hours more than he needed too but the beast doesn’t it again! Nole for the French!
Does it*
Well I hope he “doesn’t it” on Sunday😀😀
The more doesn’t ing he does on Sunday the better as far as I am concerned. 😀
Teehee. 😀
Stephanos was completely gassed at the end! Now they will appreciate more what Rafa continues to accomplish here!
Good luck Rafa on ure #13!!
But he usually does it 😉
Semantics schemantics…
Gosh! The sinking feeling one gets when rafa is to take on djokovic🙁
Did you all just see Rafa ‘s presser? I found it reassuring. Rafa said he knew he had to raise his game to play Nole but he seemed very positive and composed.
Surely Moya has lots of ideas having watched what Stefanos did today…Rafa is a better returner than Stefanos but he had better serve well…