2023-07-11 21:50:22
«Everyone wants to beat me, but…». Novak Djokovic drops it after beating Andrey Rublev (4-6, 6-1, 6-4 and 6-3) and qualifying for his twelfth semifinals at Wimbledon. It is slipped by the Serbian who knows that on grass he has no rival, who has 33 consecutive victories in the British Grand Slam and who has not fallen in a ‘major’ tournament for 26 games. His greatness and dominance increases with each match-he already has 400 in Grand Slam-and, although he runs into scares, like that first set against Rublev, the truth is that seeing a setback for the Serbian is little more than a chimera.
With more or less brilliance, Djokovic continues to burn stages at Wimbledon and is already in the semifinals, two victories away from matching Federer’s eight titles here. At the moment, counting all the Grand Slams, they already have the same number of semifinals (46) and only one less at Wimbledon (Federer 13, Djokovic 12).
Rublev, an obstacle in these quarterfinals, was a tough rival at specific moments. In a first set in which he faked a major surprise, and in a game in the third set, in which he was close to preventing Djokovic from closing the set with his serve. The Russian, pupil of the Spaniards Fernando Vicente and Alberto ‘Beto’ Martín, was able to give more of himself, push the Serbian a little more, but in the end his game has little fang to hurt a player who objectively is better from the bottom.
Without the ability to improvise or go out of the script, Rublev played a very good first set, but ran into a relentless Djokovic who barely signed two unforced errors in the second set (6-1) and who, until the last game of the third set, did not miss a ball.
With 5-4 in favor and after saving Rublev a 5-2 ball, the Serbian hesitated. He wasted four set points and had to clear three break points, before getting rid of the problem and finally taking the lead (6-4).
For the fourth set, the match was more than sentenced, Rublev was little more than a puppet in the hands of the Belgrade player, who is getting used to devouring opponents without mercy since his favoritism is beyond doubt. “Pressure is a privilege,” Djokovic paraphrased the great Billie Jean King after the match. “It is what motivates me to continue, to achieve everything I dream of.”
«Everyone wants to be in the position that the rest wants to beat you. I know they want to, but for now they can’t,” added the Serb with a laugh, who will now face the man who put him in the most trouble last year: Jannik Sinner.
The Italian was able to beat the Russian Roman Safiullin (6-4, 3-6, 6-2 and 6-2) and will play his first Grand Slam semifinals against a Djokovic who he had 2-0 up last year. “It’s going to be a completely different game than last year because he knows me better and I know him better,” Sinner said.
Swiatek, out
The world number one will not have the Roland Garros-Wimbledon double. Iga Swiatek lost to Elina Svitolina (7-5, 6-7 (5) and 6-2) and, although she signs her best result at Wimbledon, she can lose number one if Aryna Sabalenka reaches the final.
Svitolina, for her part, will play her second semifinals at Wimbledon, after the one in 2019, nine months after being a mother and as a guest of the organization. She will face the Czech Marketa Vondrousova, who beat the American Jessica Pegula 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.
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