Only two seeds are left standing as the Paris semifinals arrive on Saturday, and they are top two players in the world. Novak Djokovic is going up against Grigor Dimitrov, while Rafael Nadal faces recent Stockholm winner Denis Shapovalov.
(1) Novak Djokovic vs. Grigor Dimitrov
Djokovic was a question mark to end the 2019 campaign on his own terms after he retired from a U.S. Open match with a shoulder injury, but he has turned things around during the fall portion of the schedule. The world No. 1’s Asian swing included a title on Tokyo and a semifinal showing in Shanghai; now in Paris he has defeated Corentin Moutet, Kyle Edmund, and Stefanos Tsitsipas all in straight sets. After struggling at times with Moutet and Edmund, Djokovic destroyed Tsitsipas 6-1, 6-2 on Friday.
Up next for the four-time Paris champion is a 10th career contest against Dimitrov, who trails the head-to-head series 8-1. The Bulgarian has lost six in a row to Djokovic after most recently falling twice in 2018; 6-4, 6-1 at Queen’s Club and 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 at the Cincinnati Masters. Dimitrov’s 2019 campaign has been all over the place, but he finally finds himself with a winning record (22-20) thanks to a semifinal run at the U.S. Open and wins this week over Ugo Humbert, David Goffin, Dominic Thiem, and Christian Garin. A steep step up in competition should result in the end of the road for Dimitrov, just as it did against Medvedev in the U.S. Open semis.
Pick: Djokovic in 2
[polldaddy poll=10447932]
Denis Shapovalov vs. (2) Rafael Nadal
Nadal and Shapovalov will be squaring off for the third time in their careers on Saturday. They split their two previous encounters, with Shapovalov scoring a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(4) upset at the 2017 Montreal Masters before Nadal got the job done 6-4, 6-1 last spring in Rome. Shapovalov has earned another shot at the world No. 2 on a surface more favorable for the underdog following Paris defeats of Gilles Simon (via first-set retirement), Fabio Fognini, Alexander Zverev, and Gael Monfils. The 28th-ranked Canadian recently captured his first career title in Stockholm, so his form indoors right now is impressive.
Of course, this surface favored Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, as well, and it hardly mattered on Friday. Nadal followed up routine wins over Adrian Mannarino and Stan Wawrinka by beating Tsonga 7-6(4), 6-1 in the quarterfinals. The second-seeded Spaniard is now 14-0 on hard courts dating back to the summer (one Laver Cup victory included). A confident Nadal will pepper the Shapovalov one-hander with a steady diet of forehands and that will likely make the difference in what should be by far the more competitive semifinal.
Pick: Nadal in 2
[polldaddy poll=10448108]
WWW?
Nadal and Djokovic in 2
Final:
Nadal over Djokovic in 2 tight sets (or 3)
Incidentally Dimitrov beat Federer at USO before falling to Medvedev (I’m not really sure that it counts as a step up). He might as well do the same in Paris: beat Djokovic and lose to Nadal. Nole has the #1 spot pressure while Grigor has nothing to lose.
Unless the Serb has an off day, he should dispatch the Bulgarian although I expect this to be the more competitive semifinal. So Djoker in 3.
Shapo’s form is good, but he won Stockholm beating nobody then immediately fell in Vienna. Fognini and Zverev are not the most consistent players and Monfils didn’t probably have much left today (plus he was under pressure to qualify for London).
That being said, I still think that Shapovalov will give Rafa a good run for his money and might even snatch a set in a TB.
Fed was hurt. Dimitrov did play well, but normal Fed wins that match comfortably.
dude cmon ricky. dimi played outstanding v fed. sure fed was hurt in last set but gotta give credit to dimi when its due
I agree with Ricky. It’s not about giving credit or not to Dimi. He played well for HIS standards. Normally that wouldn’t be enough to beat a ‘normal’ FED.
Ricky, since when did you start making allowances for losses due to a player not being 100% fit? Or do you just not do it in Rafa’s case?
Djokovic in 2 if he plays as he did today.
Kinda on the fence re Nadal v Shapo – gonna say too close to call! Hard hitting/serving lefties tend to give Rafa fits. Of course Rafa gives them fits too!
Shapo is a lefty, I doubt Rafa will be hammering at Shapo’s BH the way he does against righties.
Shapo has a very good serve, plus he rushes forward almost always after serving, taking away time from his opponent. His lefty SHBH is very solid and he has a good FH too. It’ll be a tough test for Rafa; Rafa will have to use all his guile plus great serving to beat Shapo. Shapo’s weakness is his ROS imo.
Rafa will be ready! Vamos!!!
Keep your mind focused, remain confident, be strong and show off your fighting spirit, Rafa!
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EIXPwZZXYAAxhg4?format=jpg&name=medium
That point right there, I just knew it would have been the death of Dimi!!! He’s lost the WHOLE match bcos of just that dumb point!!! Its over!!
That’s y the top will always remain at the top!!
Really stupid strategy from Dimi, why engaged in long rallies after long rallies with Djoko? Dimi is winning most of the shorter points so just keeps the points short! Nobody is going to beat Djoko in long rallies except maybe a Stan at his best!
Why can’t these players realise and accept that and be more aggressive and move to the net more often? That stupid drive volley was the killer, how could Dimi miss an important point like that? To me he’s not gutsy enough, not willing to take risk but continued to engage in rallies with Djoko, doomed to fail.
Djoko would just stretch, bent or simply crawled around just to get to any ball and returned them with interest. Dimi is not going to beat Djoko from the baseline.
Exactly what I think.
I was just so annoyed!! And as soon as he got that brain fart I knew he was done!!! It was simply over!!!
Cmon Rafa please beat shapo n get atleast a 880 point advantage at start of wtf
Damn! Will have to go through Nole if rafa defeats shapo today.. cannot sneak his way to this title ☹️
If Rafa wins today , who will win the final ? Rafa or Joko?
Omg rafa withdraws since he got injured during warm up. This seems like he is hiding from Djoko even if he really is injured😳
Rafa has pulled out!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Gosh, how bad is it, does anyone know?
It just says injury and no mention of what he has injured. IT is best if he withdraws from the O2 as well. Let no.1 go for a toss.
I really can’t stand it, he could get injured even during warm up, unbelievable!
His whole body seems just taped up and anytime any part could get hurt when the tape gets out of place.
What was he doing during warm up to get injured? This is the second time this season that he has to withdraw during SF stage. He’s not going to last if he keeps getting injuries so often during a season.
If he keeps saying he fears getting injured..this is what happens..he attracts injuries
This means no 1 gone as he won’t even play wtf looks like
Rafa will give a press conference soon.
From Rafa’s press conference:
Carole Bouchard (a journalist):
Rafa:”Hand was in a better shape, but in one of last serves of the warm up I felt something in the abdominal”.
Small strain seen in the medical images. He tried but still felt pain, so…”it didn’t allow me to serve at the level I need + there’s a big chance to increase the problem.”
Carole Bouchard:
¤¤ Rafa says he now needs to wait because not everything is clear in the image. Says he’s gonna do everything to play in London. Frustrating but he needs to accept the situation.¤¤
ROLEX PARIS MASTERS:
Rafa: “In one of the last serves of the warmups, I felt something in the abdominal.”
https://twitter.com/RolexPMasters/status/1190659737601429504
Rafa: “We saw something on the image, probably a small strain.”
Rafa speaks about the injury that forced him to pull out of his semifinal just moments before the match (a video clip):
https://twitter.com/Tennis/status/1190663797591007232
I have hope that he did this because he achieved what he wanted to in Paris.. only if he pulls out of wtf would i believe that it was a serious injury. Probably does not want to push himself too hard in Paris fighting Nole and shapo..
That laver cup participation was utterly useless and counter productive. Also no way he is participating in the davis cup and maybe even the atp cup
Why would he do this..he should have atleast played semi right..I don’t think it’s a strategy..
If he plays the semi and then withdrawing from the final will be even worse.. battling nole on an indoor court has little gains.. anyway lets see how serious the injury is.. if he plays wtf it will be the equivalent of fed pulling out in 2014 wtf and suiting up for davis cup a week later
Fed withdrew only during final
Who is to blame for his useless laver cup decision..only he himself..no points and just to honour committment made to fed..n in turn screw himself up.