2023-06-09 06:30:00
Two weeks that all fans of the little yellow ball have marked the date in their calendar. Since, during the Roland-Garros draw, the innocent hand of rugby player Antoine Dupont sent Novak Djokovic, seeded number 3, in the same part of the table as Carlos Alcaraz, the world number 1. Or, in the semi-finals of the Parisian Grand Slam, the two best players on the planet and ultra favorites of the tournament, in the absence of an injured Rafael Nadal. We already imagined the meeting between the young Spaniard and the old Serbian getting a place of choice in the history books. Fruit of the faultless journeys of the two men at Porte d’Auteuil, this final before the hour will take place this Friday, June 9th.
Federer retired, Nadal in the infirmary, the rest of the players struggling to overshadow them, Alcaraz and Djokovic have shared the top of the ATP rankings and the most beautiful titles offered by the circuit in recent months. Victorious at the US Open, then forfeited in Australia, Carlos Alcaraz remains on 12 consecutive Grand Slam successes. “Nole” is doing even better, now pointing to 19 consecutive victories after his perfect runs at Wimbledon and the Australian Open. So many elements that make this Friday’s match the equivalent of a fight for the belt in boxing. And who would decide, at least until Wimbledon, the question of which of the two is really the best player in the world today.
Their meeting is all the more expected as the 20-year-old Spaniard and the 36-year-old Serb have been constantly avoiding each other in recent months. When one commits to a tournament, the other points to absent subscribers. The Turin Masters in November and the Australian Open in January? Carlos Alcaraz withdrew due to injuries, as he had done during the Bercy tournament when he could meet Djokovic in the final. The US Open in September and the Indian Wells in March? This time it is the Serb who does not show up, for lack of a vaccine against Covid-19.
Ignition delay
On the clay court of Rome, just before Roland-Garros, it was believed that their paths would finally cross. But tired after 12 games played in less than a month (all won), Alcaraz cracked in the second round against an opponent who was not even in the world top 100.
Since the Spaniard entered the main circuit in 2021, the pair have only faced each other once. It was in May 2022 in Madrid for a victory for Alcaraz after an epic match: 6-7, 7-5, 7-6 and 3 hours 38 of play. “Since last year I want to face Novak again. To be the best, you have to beat the best.” dropped the world number 1 on Tuesday evening, showing his will “to write history”.
The story, Djokovic now plays almost only for that. In the event of victory at Roland-Garros, the Serb would pass in front of Rafael Nadal and his 22 Grand Slams. He would be only one length behind Australia’s Margaret Court, 24 individual majors won between 1959 and 1975, an absolute record, men and women combined. “One of the reasons I’m playing today and competing at this level is to break records. It is an important source of motivation and inspiration,” he admitted before the tournament. “At 36, every Grand Slam tournament is now or neveranalyzes former player Cédric Pioline, who was 5th in the world at his best level. We don’t know how many he has left to play, how many he has in his head and in his legs. And it can get stuck at any time, we saw it with Serena Williams who blocked at 23.»
So far at Porte d’Auteuil, Novak Djokovic has won his matches a little sluggishly, worn out, without really shining but still able to press the accelerator in important moments. At each of his encounters, he seemed to have an ignition delay. This was still the case on Tuesday against the Russian Karen Khachanov, 11th player in the world, to whom he left the first set before being pushed to the tie-break in the second. Then Djokovic suddenly started to unwind. “I would say those first two sets are my worst since the start of the tournament. I was fine then when I arrived on the court, part of me stayed in the locker room.he dissected after the meeting.
To believe that the mysterious metallic patch he wears on his chest this year slow to take effect. Asked many times about this object that we see when he changes his T-shirt on the court, “Nole” preferred to play the humor card: “When I was a child I loved Iron Man so my team uses fantastic nanotechnology to help me as best I can. This is the secret of my career. If I didn’t have that, I wouldn’t be here!” Fan of alternative medicine, Djokovic would use a patch supposed (according to its creator) to improve coordination and save energy. No doping in sight but pure quackery for many sports doctors.
“He can overturn games that seemed bent”
On meetings in two winning sets, Novak Djokovic seems takeable. But in the Grand Slams and their three-set winning matches, nanotechnology or not, he always ends up having the solution. Since the start of 2021, he has won 50 of the 52 matches he has played in three winning sets. Not really a surprise for Juan Carlos Ferrero, the trainer of Carlos Alcaraz. “Novak is one of the best players in history, this type of player is able to find solutions where the majority of players do not find them, he boasted at a press conference on Wednesday. He’s already shown millions of times that he can turn games around that look bent.”
With 44 Grand Slam semi-finals on the clock – only Roger Federer and his 46 do better – Djokovic will have the experience on his side on Friday. But if Alcaraz went only once in the last four of a major, he tumbles in half the confidence inflated to block. The young Spaniard has impressed since the start of the tournament and crushes all his opponents with his powerful forehands.
In the quarter-finals, Carlos Alcaraz explained that he simply played “one of the best games of [sa] career”, passing Stéfanos Tsitsipás, world number 5, for a vulgar Sunday player (three sets to nothing in 2 hours 12). In the middle of the Philippe-Chatrier court, the Spaniard gave the impression of flying. “He moves like Speedy Gonzales”, noted the Greek dejected after the meeting. “What he produces on the court is just magnificent,” praises Cédric Pioline.
“It must be exhilarating to be behind the wheel of such a racing car”
Alcaraz also impresses with his attitude. When he wins a point, even at the end of an interminable rally or on a magnificent winner, he barely celebrates. And when he misses, he seems insensitive, repositions himself and waits for the next point. A shame for the one who confided before Rome to have been a teenager a cantankerous player, “a little crazy” who was constantly throwing his racquet and complaining a lot. He plays today with a smile on his face, «aime» hit the ball and “have fun on the court”.
Faced with this combo of power, speed and maturity, it is difficult to find flaws, analyzes Guy Forget, former world number 4 and ex-captain of the French Davis Cup team. “The only thing that can work against him is that he is driving such an overpowered car on clay that he can sometimes want to attack too early and too hard. Inevitably, it must be exhilarating to be behind the wheel of such a car and sometimes we make mistakes. Rafa at the same age was much less impactful but also gave much less points. Faced with Novak, he cannot afford to attack excessively on all the balls.
This Friday, will we see Djokovic take another step towards history or Alcaraz begin to write his own Porte d’Auteuil? Among the observers, there are the realists who see the Spaniard passing since he has been playing the best tennis since the start of the fortnight. The bookmakers have also made it their favourite. And those, like Forget, who have confidence in the experience of the Serb and his ability to raise his level of play in the big moments. Henri Leconte, finalist at Roland-Garros in 1988, says to himself “torn” and unable to designate a favourite: “We want to see both win, but we know it’s not possible. And that’s what’s beautiful about our sport.”
For him, the public could also have a role to play. Tuesday, in the stands, the spectators were on the side of the opponents of Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic. More out of a desire to see the matches last longer than out of a real desire to see them fall. At the applause meter, Alcaraz seems to have a head start. Perceived by many Nadal fans as his worthy heir, he also benefits from Djokovic’s poor communication.
At the start of the tournament, the Serb signed after his first round “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia” on a camera, offering himself a new scandal after the soap operas concerning his non-vaccination against Covid-19 which cost him the Australian Open and the US Open last season. This pressure, Novak Djokovic, however, seems to appreciate it. On the court, it is when he is jostled by the public that he seems to play his best tennis. As if having the Earth against him pushed him to sublimate himself.
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