(Wimbledon) Novak Djokovic, who can equal Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 Grand Slam titles, qualified for his twelfth Wimbledon semi-final on Tuesday by beating Russia’s Andrey Rublev (7th in the world) 4-6, 6 -1, 6-4, 6-3.
Posted 1:16 p.m. Updated 3:23 p.m.
“I played well, I have the right energy and I hope to win again on Friday,” said the 36-year-old Serbian with great serenity, who will face the Italian Jannik Sinner (8th) for a place in the final of the tournament. that he is playing for the 18th time.
He also has in his sights the record of eight titles on the London turf held by Roger Federer for men, one length from the absolute record of Martina Navratilova (9).
So, for his 71st Grand Slam tournament, he is the player to beat, again and again.
” I love that ! Any player wants to be the one everyone else wants to beat,” he said.
“The pressure is always immense, especially here at Wimbledon, but it motivates me and makes me play my best tennis. They all want my scalp, but they won’t get it! “, he launched before adding while laughing” that, it was humility! »
In terms of records, he is also aiming for a fifth consecutive title at Wimbledon to equal the series of Federer (2003-2007) and Björn Borg (1976-1980).
He also reached his 46th Grand Slam semi-final, equaling Federer’s men’s record.
He played his 400th Grand Slam match on Tuesday after playing his 100th at Wimbledon in the previous round. Only Roger Federer (429) and Serena Williams (419) have played more matches in Majors.
On Tuesday, Rublev, who had been completely helpless on the hard Australian Open in January, already in the quarter-finals, offered a completely different opposition on the London lawn where he even led a set to nil.
As proof of this resistance, in addition to the dirt staining the Russian’s t-shirt, Djokovic had to defend eight break points (one lost), but he converted seven out of twelve on Rublev’s service.
“There were huge exchanges. Sometimes, between the speed of his ball and his roars, he is scary”, commented Djokovic about his opponent of the day and the famous “bweh”, which he releases on his strikes.
After losing this first set by giving up his serve at the end of the set, Djokovic took matters into his own hands.
Clearly first by succeeding two breaks to equalize at one inning everywhere.
More difficult in the third set where, after breaking to lead 3-2, he served at 5-4, but only concluded on his fifth set point after saving three counter balls himself. broken.
The Djoker took control of the fourth set by breaking to lead 2-1 and this time his domination was total since he did not have to defend a single break point in the set and pushed Rublev to an ultimate desperate dive on the match point.
Jannik Sinner qualified for his first Grand Slam semi-final
PHOTO DYLAN MARTINEZ, REUTERS
Jannik Sinner
The Italian Jannik Sinner, 8th player in the world, qualified for his first Grand Slam semi-final by beating the Russian Roman Safiullin (92nd) 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, Tuesday at the Wimbledon tournament.
Quarter-finalist at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the United States Open in 2022, Sinner has finally passed this milestone.
He becomes, for the time being, at 22, the youngest semi-finalist on the London lawn since 2007 and a certain Novak Djokovic whom he could find in the half if the world number 2 beats the Russian Andrey Rublev.
But he will not remain so for long: the winner of the quarter between Carlos Alcaraz (N.1 in the world) and Holger Rune (N.6), both 20 years old, will become one in his place.
“Anyway I’ll stay young and happy so at least let me enjoy it today,” he joked right after the game.
PHOTO HANNAH MCKAY, REUTERS
Roman Safiullin
“It means a lot to me because we put in a lot of work, a lot, a lot of hours, including off the courts, a lot of sacrifices to get to this moment”, he commented more seriously.
The Italian has in any case shown a lot of maturity against Safiullin, one of the surprises of this edition since he had only one victory in the main draw in three tournaments on this surface before Wimbledon.
Sinner, extremely solid on his commitment, mastered the first set well where he broke at 4-4 to pocket it on his serve.
He also ideally started the second set coming off at 3-1, but with first serve percentage dropping to 48%, he lost the next 5 games to find himself one set all.
“When I lost the second set, all I had to do was win the next two,” he said after the match, in the form of a joke.
“No, more seriously, it was obviously difficult. I faltered a bit mentally, it’s an area we’re working on a lot and I’m obviously very happy with the way I reacted over the last two rounds,” he added.
Again dominating on his serve – he conceded only one break point in the third and fourth sets – he used his greatest variety of shots to gain the upper hand over Safiullin who, although very combative, no longer made the weight.
2023-07-11 17:16:12
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