Novak Djokovic beats Stefanos Tsitsipas and prepares at the French Open | on the final against Rafael Nadal before tennis news

Djokovic leads Nadal 29-26 in meetings. He also leads 15-11 in the final. Of these games, 15 were in Grand Slams with Nadal 9-6 leading. The Spaniard is 6-1 at the French Open, including both finals

Novak Djokovic reaches his fifth French Open final after defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas in five sets

World number 1 Novak Djokovic prepared for a dream final of the French Open against defending champion Rafael Nadal after defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas in five sets in Paris on Friday evening.

Djokovic, who physically struggled with neck and shoulder problems in his quarter-final win against Pablo Carreno Busta, dropped a two-set lead against the hard-hitting Greek before regaining his form in the fifth and reaching his 27th Grand Slam final.

Djokovic, who was competing for a second French Open and 18th Grand Slam title, took a 6-3 6-2 5-7 4-6 6-1 victory on Court Philippe Chatrier after three hours and 54 minutes.

“Here he (Nadal) is the favorite, this is where he is at home. With all the titles he has won, but in 2015 I won against him here in the quarter-finals,” Djokovic said in his interview in court.

“I hope I can relax, I need my best tennis. It is perhaps the greatest challenge in our sport to play Nadal at Roland Garros. I’m looking forward to it, I’m happy to be here and motivated to win.”

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Tsitsipas is a well-known shooter but he couldn’t break the Djokovic wall in the first few sets.

The Serb was 0:40 behind in the opening game, but secured all three breakpoints before taking command of the opening set.

It was similar in the second set, when Djokovic broke Tsitsipas’s defense in fifth and lost only two games.

The Greek tossed the sink to first place in the third set and increased his game to break Djokovic’s defense for the first time in that game when the Serb served 5-4 for the game and saved a match point.

Tsitsipas held the serve in the next game before rocking Djokovic by snapping the set with a sparkling forehand that painted the baseline.

Djokovic fought his way back to the same level in the fourth set from 0-2, but couldn’t make his own breakthrough.

Tsitsipas held on and saved 10 out of 11 breakpoints before sending the competition into a decision after the Serbian attempted drop shot fell way below the mark.

Tsitsipas fought his way back in two sets before finally falling to defeat

Djokovic reiterated control of the decision to win

When the clock ticked after 10 p.m. local time, Djokovic looked stunned, especially since he set a remarkable 215: 1 record in Grand Slams after winning the first two sets. His only loss came in 2010 at Roland Garros against Jürgen Melzer.

The 33-year-old kept his composure and focused on taking a service break in the third game of the fifth. He cemented his lead before running away in the competition and hitting the bull’s eye with his third match point to reach his fifth Roland Garros final and the first time since winning the tournament in 2016.

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