Djokovic fights left-arm ache, rallies for berth in semifinals
PARIS — The first obvious sign of trouble for Novak Djokovic came when he stepped out into Court Philippe Chatrier with a large square of beige athletic tape on the back of his neck.
The next indication came on the very first point of his French Open quarterfinal against Pablo Carreno Busta, when Djokovic let a ball toss drop and abandoned his serve mid-motion.
Soon enough, Djokovic was flexing and stretching his left arm or hitting it with his racket. Off to a slow start Wednesday, Djokovic received massages from a trainer, righted himself and beat Carreno Busta 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the semifinals at Roland Garros for the 10th time.
“I definitely didn’t feel great coming into the court today. A few things happened in the warmup,” the No. 1-ranked Djokovic said, not going into specifics.
“I had some neck issues and some shoulder issues. I’ll just say that. I mean, I don’t want to get really too much into it. ... I’m feeling OK,” said Djokovic, who will face No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas in Friday’s semifinals. “As the match progressed, I warmed up my body, and the pain kind of faded away. It allowed me to play better and better and feel better.”
This was a rematch from the U.S. Open last month, when Djokovic was defaulted for inadvertently hitting a line judge in the throat with a ball he smacked in anger. He’s 36-1 in 2020.
“I’m over it,” he said.
Djokovic certainly does seem to have moved past that episode, winning all 10 matches he’s played since. He hadn’t even ceded a set at Roland Garros until Wednesday. Now he’ll get a day to recuperate as he seeks a second title in Paris and 18th Grand Slam trophy
No. 2 Rafael Nadal faces No. 12 Diego Schwartzman in the other semifinal Friday. Nadal eyes a 13th championship at the French Open, which would give him 20 majors overall, equaling Roger Federer’s record for men; Schwartzman never has played in a Slam semifinal.
Tsitsipas, 22, reached his first French Open semifinal with a 7-5, 6-2, 6-3 victory over 13th-seeded Andrey Rublev. He’ll next face Djokovic.
Against Carreno Busta, Djokovic manipulated his left arm. At changeovers,
he rubbed it. He hit himself in the lower part of his biceps with the heel of his right hand. He pushed his left triceps against his sideline seat.
In the women’s semifinals today, it’ll be Sofia Kenin vs. Petra Kvitova, and Iga Swiatek vs. Nadia Podoroska.
Kvitova, who by then already had two Wimbledon titles, was told by doctors she might never be competitive again after she was stabbed by an intruder at her home in the Czech Republic in December 2016. All five fingers on the left hand that she uses to hold her racket were injured, and she sustained nerve and tendon damage.
Her 6-3, 6-3 victory Wednesday against Laura Siegemund, an unseeded German playing her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, marked another step back from that trauma for the
30-year-old Czech.
“It’s another miracle,” she said.
Kenin won 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 against fellow American Danielle Collins.
Collins, who won two NCAA singles titles for the Virginia Cavaliers, had an i nt e r e st i ng moment Wednesday, as reported by the New York Post.
The American asked her boyfriend, trainer/Australian football player Tom Couch, to leave his seat in the early stages of the second set. Collins’ frustration came after she failed to convert two break points.
“Sit in a different spot. SIT IN A DIFFERENT SPOT. I’m distracted,” Collins said.
“I had my boyfriend move to a different spot because I was distracted by something in front of him,” she said later, noting she was worried about a potential injury.