JUST WHAT THE DJOK ORDERED!
Relentless Djokovic one win away from record haul
NOVAK DJOKOVIC is one win away from a record-equalling 20th Grand Slam title.
The world No.1 fought off a brave challenge from Denis Shapovalov to win 7-6 7-5 7-5 in a thrilling semifinal on Centre Court.
He will now face Matteo Berrettini (below) who set up his nation’s super Sunday by becoming the first Italian to reach the Wimbledon men’s final.
But defending champion Djokovic will be the hot favourite to win his sixth Wimbledon title – and complete the third leg of a calendar Grand Slam.
The Australian and
French Open champion also has the chance to draw level with the record of 20
Major titles jointly held by
Roger Federer and Rafa
Nadal.
“At this stage of my career the Grand Slams are everything,” said the Serb. “The four events that count the most in our sport.
“I have been very privileged to make history of the sport that I truly love. It fills my heart, it inspires and motivates me, but at the same time I have to balance it out and be present in the moment, and win only the next match. Only one match exists in the next few days. I will try not to think about a 30th Grand Slam final!”
Djokovic, 34, showed his experience in his 41st Grand Slam semi-final against the 22-year-old Canadian in his first.
Southpaw Shapovalov came out swinging and won 15 consecutive points on his own serve before losing the crucial 53-minute first set on a tiebreak.
The No.10 seed’s frustration boiled over when he lost the second set following an over-rule. On the 40th anniversary of John Mcenroe’s “You cannot be serious” rant, he paid tribute with his own version to umpire Renaud Lichtenstein: “He called it 30 minutes before my shot. What are you doing? Are you joking?”
The blond bombshell, who converted only one of 11 break points, left Centre Court in tears.
But Djokovic said: “The scoreline doesn’t say enough about Denis’s performance and match. You could see he was emotional. We will see a lot of him in future.”
Next up is world No.9 Berrettini, who saw off Roger Federer’s conqueror Hubert Hurkacz 6-3 6-0 6-7 6-4 with the help of 22 aces.
The Roman’s emotions were more than matched by every Italian journalist in his press conference who thanked him profusely. One threatened to cry.
“It feels great,” said the No.7 seed. “It would have felt great even if I wasn’t the first Italian, but Sunday will be a great day. I’m happy that together with football now we are one of the biggest sports in Italy.”