Paul Rouget, Media365: published on Wednesday September 08, 2021 at 1:43 p.m.
For the third time in a row, Novak Djokovic and Matteo Berrettini will face each other in the Grand Slam, in the quarterfinals of the US Open. And the Italian hopes to finally succeed in beating the Serbian …
These two will start to know each other well. If they had faced each other only once before June, in the group stage of the Masters in 2019, Novak Djokovic and Matteo Berrettini will be opposed for the third time in a row in a Grand Slam on Wednesday in New York. As in London (6-2, 6-1), the Serbian had dominated the Italian in the quarterfinals of Roland Garros (6-3, 6-2, 6-7[5], 7-5), then in the Wimbledon final (6-7[4], 6-4, 6-4, 6-3), for the Italian first at this level. “I hope the result will be the same,” Djokovic laughed at a press conference at the end of his success against American Jenson Brooksby in the round of 16 of the US Open (1-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2), after having described his future opponent as a “hammer of tennis”.
“Biggest hitter with Del Potro”
According to “Djoko”, he is even “probably the biggest hitter on the circuit in service and forehand with Juan Martin Del Potro. He is already a top player. And if he serves well, which is his greatest weapon. , it’s hard to play on any surface. ” If the world number one, who equaled Federer and Nadal’s record for Major victories in Paris (20), is now aiming for the first calendar Grand Slam since Rod Laver in 1969, Berrettini wants him to reach the last four of a Grand Slam for the third time, two years after his first semi-final, already in New York, where he lost to Nadal (7-6[6], 6-4, 6-1), future winner. After being scared against Belarusian Ilya Ivashka in the third round (6-7[5], 6-2, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3), the one who is eighth in the ATP ranking knows that he will not have the right to make mistakes against Djokovic, and that a success would propel him into the Top 5 for the first time in his career.
