Paris.- Novak Djokovic would be a great muslim player. He cheats, he plays the clueless, he goes big, he reluctantly wants the pairs, just to see, and then, at stake, pum. Cards down: thirty-one, sirloin.
In this Roland Garros, Djokovic has been one step below his best level so far and is also wearing sheep’s clothing. Fighting with the stands, treated by the physio in the third round, coming back almost to the limit in the quarterfinals, the Serbian wanted to shake off any kind of favoritism for this Friday’s semifinal with Carlos Alcaraz (2:45 p.m. on Eurosport and DMAX). But few trust Nole, an illusionist, a magician who always has an ace up his sleeve for decisive moments..
“Novak Djokovic has all the cards, many times he goes from less to more in tournaments and in the end he is very fine,” answers Juan Carlos Ferrero, Alcaraz’s coach and champion 20 years ago in Paris. “We are waiting for the finest Novak and we already know the level it can give when it is at its maximum. We don’t expect anything less than that level for Friday’s game.”
Toni Nadal: “No tennis player should forget what a great champion he is”
The level and exuberance that Alcaraz has shown so far in the tournament, with a tremendous display in the quarterfinals against Tsitsipas, make him a favorite in bookmakers and for most experts. But history and experience play on the side of Djokovic, champion of 22 greatsthe last of them also with a hamstring tear from day one. Despite the fact that there were moments in which he could not run, he left a set in the entire tournament and reached the final without a trace of injury.
“We don’t pay any attention to all these things“, warns Antonio Martínez-Cascales, who was Juan Carlos Ferrero’s coach and who now acts as Alcaraz’s adviser. “It is true that he is not having a very, very high ball rhythm, but he is reaching everything and failing a little. I’m sure he’s going to bring out the best.”
“He arrives more than optimal, quite fresh and with enough sensations for the challenge. He has not yet given his best version”
Extenuator and commentator at Eurosport
Toni Nadal, who suffered in his flesh the best Djokovic of all as Rafael Nadal’s coach, believes that a player like the Serbian should never be ruled out no matter how much difference there has been so far in the tournament. “It is clear that Novak is somewhat far from the best version of him, the one that we were able to enjoy (it is true that we were not) in the years 2011 and 2015, among some others. But even so, no tennis player should ever forget what a great champion he is or underestimate what it means to have him on the other side of the track”, writes Toni in a column in El País.
“Whoever faces him must know that he will be willing to fight until the last ball and that his combative spirit can allow him to adapt at any time and turn the situation around as, in fact, happened in his last match”, adds the one who is now director of the Rafa Nadal Academy.
Corretja’s prediction: “He’s going to have to raise the level”
Nicolas Almagro, a three-time quarterfinalist in Paris, is one of the few who does not see Djokovic with options. “Not the Novak we’re used to in these rounds. It may be because of the pressure and because time is running out to be the best in history. If you add that he has the final in the semis, against CarlitosWell, much more still. I don’t see him capable of winning Carlitos“, says the last tennis player to join the Eurosport narrations.
Álex Corretja disagrees and believes that Djokovic still has a lot to say. “He arrives more than optimal, quite fresh and with sufficient sensations for the challenge. He has not yet given the best version of him, but he can raise his level and he will have to do it with Alcaraz,” he argues. . “In the GS he is doing that, going rounds. “The matches will come in which I know that the history of tennis is at stake”“That match comes this Friday. Does anyone trust Djokovic?
2023-06-09 03:45:57
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