Novak Djokovic is on a mission to conquer the 22nd Grand Slam of his incredible career. Only two challenges separate him from his 10th Australian Open title. In the semifinals he will face one of the surprises of the tournament, the American Tommy Paul, who at the starting line was certainly not one of the candidates to go that far.
The final, instead, will come out between the winner of the challenge between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Karen Khachanov. The numbers of the Serbian star are impressive. To reach his 10th semi-final in the land of kangaroos, the Belgrade native has encountered very few obstacles so far and his performance has not stopped increasing.
Only the Frenchman Enzo Couacaud managed to snatch a set from him. Grigor Dimitrov, the highest ranked, and Andrey Rublev were left out. It was a disarming show of force in the later rounds for Novak, who seems to have finally overcome his hamstring problems, which had alarmed millions of fans in the early stages of the tournament.
As we said, this is Djokovic’s tenth appearance in the semifinals in Melbourne, with nine wins. At 35, he is the only tennis player in history to have triumphed in all four Slams (11 at Roland Garros, 11 Wimbledon, 12 US Open).
Some incredible statistics, which attest, if necessary, to the continuity that Nole has managed to have in the last 16 years of his career. At Roland Garros in 2007, the Balkan champion reached his first major semifinal, but lost to the King of the clay, Rafael Nadal, in three close sets.
Nole will face Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final
Novak Djokovic will face third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final on Sunday. “Yeah, I mean, it’s not an ideal situation or circumstances to be in when you have to kind of deal with all these other outside factors that are not really necessary during such an important event,” Djokovic said.
“But it’s been part of my life. Unfortunately last few years more so. I just try to evolve from it. I try to become more resilient, more stronger. I have, of course, a team of people around me, my family members who are staying with me in the same accommodation or spending an entire day with me.
I have an agreement with them that they give me this kind of protection,” he said. “I don’t want to hear things about what was written in this article or that news or that news. I want to keep my mind as sane or serene as possible in order to conserve the vital energy that I need for the court,” he added.
