It seems that lightning never strikes twice in the same place, but the earth shook twice this Saturday in Monte Carlo. First with the elimination of Jannik Sinner, best player of the first quarter, by a Stefanos Tsitsipas who came from afar. And especially with Novak Djokovic’s defeat against Casper Rudd. A victory which was probably not favored by the forecasts since, as we recall, the Norwegian had simply never taken a set at world No. 1 in five confrontations. But it will be him who will compete in the final on Sunday.
The feat is capital letters, the match remained in lower case. The fault of two players who forgot that it takes two to play well at the same time to have a great match. Very offensive and confident, Ruud entered the match perfectly. But Djokovic made his task easier by being particularly messy (9 unforced errors in this first set, 22 in the match). The Serb did not seem to be at his best physically, regularly waving his left hand as if trying to regain sensation. The win of the first set was relatively logical in this context.
Ruud collapses in the second set
What was less so was the complete reversal of the trend in the following round. Perhaps intoxicated by this first set taken from his prestigious opponent, Ruud put less into the ball. As an old hand on the circuit, Djokovic immediately slipped into the breach. Suddenly, his shots were hitting the mark again. Quick break in his pocket (2-0), he found his tennis while Ruud lost his. The Norwegian seemed to once again become that helpless victim of previous matches. If it was severe, the score clearly reflected its collapse in this second set.
The Norwegian recovers at the start of the third set
If Djokovic had indicated that he did not have high hopes for this tournament, one could imagine that it was quite different for Casper Ruud. If he was still lacking big results, there were some signs which showed that, since the start of the season, he had returned to a level close to that which allowed him to be featured in the last two finals of Roland Garros. And the return to his favorite surface should confirm this feeling of renewal. If Sonego and Humbert had taken a set from him in his last two matches, he was able to emerge victorious, proof that he no longer gives up matches and that he has regained his fighting spirit.
Djokovic breaks down at the end
He delivered a new example in this third set. He did not wait to put pressure on his opponent (2-0) and did not let him react until leading 4-1. This is the moment when his arm tensed up, when he became shy again on the court. Once again, Djokovic took advantage. But if he came back to 4-4, it was more due to his opponent than his own. From the back, the Serbian did not give a great feeling of security and often chose to take risks at the net to escape long rallies. But in his last service game, he multiplied the faults to give Ruud three match points. Protected by his first ball, Djokovic dismissed the first two. On the third, a double fault confirmed that he had indeed collapsed. To Ruud the final.
