“Couldn’t be a better time for….., ” Novak Djokovic believes his win against Stefanos Tsitsipas is the perfect boost for French Open
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Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-0 7-6(5) in an hour and 36 minutes to win his first title of the year. In the second set, the world No. 1 was down 2-5 before mounting an amazing comeback to capture his 38th Masters 1000 championship and sixth in Rome.
Djokovic and Tsitsipas were meeting for the sixth time, and the first since the Greek squandered a two-set lead in last year’s French Open final, allowing the world No. 1 to win his 19th Grand Slam trophy. Tsitsipas had never beaten the Serb on clay before, and the Serb took his time winning the Italian Open.
“I pleasantly surprised myself”- Novak Djokovic
In the first set, the Serb’s serve returns were too much for Tsitsipas. After winning the first game of the set, the Serb went on to win eight of the first nine points of the match, putting the match out of reach. Novak Djokovic pushed himself further ahead of the pack by dominating his first serve with a 4-0 score. Stefanos Tsitsipas seemed out of sorts throughout the set, making numerous unforced errors that handed Djokovic the third breakpoint, which he converted to make the score 5-0. Djokovic completed the deal with a smash while on his way to bagel the Greek. He finished the first set in 30 minutes.
Tsitsipas had never been bageled in an opening set of a tournament in his career, including challengers and futures tournaments. Stefanos Tsitsipas showed some improvement at the start of the second set, as he bounced back from losing the first set by winning the first four games in the second. He was returning Djokovic’s serve returns with more ferocity in the second set than in the first. However, the Serb was determined not to let go of the match from his hands as he quickly tied the score to 5-5. Shortly, afterwards, he finished the game with an ace to force the tie-break. In the tiebreak, which started with an astonishing 17-shot rally, it was the Serb who sealed the deal to emerge as the ultimate winner.
“I pleasantly surprised myself,” Djokovic said in his on-court interview afterwards. “Even though I have a clear game plan and strategy coming into the match I knew what was expected of me from the other side. I knew what I had to do. The tie-breaker I was an inch better, maybe calmer, but it was a tight tie-break for both of us certainly.”
He added: “Two days ago [against Felix Auger-Aliassime in the quarter-final] I played great. I’ve been building my form the last couple of weeks. Like the previous years, I knew that my best shape on the clay usually comes around Rome time. It couldn’t be a better time to come into Roland-Garros with a title in this wonderful tournament.”
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Pritha Ghosh
(414 Articles Published)