Novak Djokovic
Shaking the trend for the second time in his career, Novak Djokovic 'climed Mount Everest', in defeating the 13-time French Open champions Rafeal Nadal at his own living room in an epic four-setter semifinal clash on Friday. With the win Djokovic reached his 29th Grand Slam final and earned a chance to re-establish his name in the GOAT race while also earning the opportunity to achieve a massive feat if he wins his second French Open title.
Djokovic will be taking on Stefanos Tsitsipas in the summit clash, who reached the final after defeating Alexander Zverev in the first semifinal on Friday.
If Djokovic defeats the Greek, he will join Roy Emerson and Rod Laver to become the third player in the history of tennis to win all the four Grand Slam titles twice in his career. He would also become the first man to win all the majors in Open Era.
The win will also hand him his 19th Grand Slam title and place him a spot behind Nadal and Roger Federer, both tied with 20 majors, in the all-time list.
Djokovic leads the head-to-head to tie 5-2, whoich includes victories in all their last three encounters, including the five-setter at the Roland Garros last fall.
However, history says that Nadal slayers at the Roland Garros have never won the French Open title. In 2009, when Robin Soderling had achieved the unthinkable, he went on to lose to Roger Federer in the final. Djokovic himself was stopped by Stan Wawrinka in the final in 2015 after defeating Nadal in the quarters.
“It's not the first time that I play an epic semifinal in a Grand Slam and then I have to come back in less than 48 hours and play [a] final,” Djokovic assured. “My recovery abilities are pretty good, I must say, throughout my career.
“Obviously my physiotherapist will try to do everything possible so I can be fresh. Because I played enough tennis, I don't need to train too much. It's really now just about taking things slowly until the day of the final.”
