By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesday October 7, 2020
Even when Novak Djokovic isn’t at his sparkling best, the Serb still finds ways to secure victories and push his way past in-form opponents.
That was the case on Wednesday evening in Paris as the World No.1 rallied past Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta for a gritty 4-6 6-2 6-3 6-4 victory that both opened up and answered a lot of questions about the state of Djokovic’s fitness.
Djokovic reaches his tenth career semi-final at Roland Garros and sets a date with Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas next.
Tsitsipas trounced Andrey Rublev in Wednesday’s other men’s quarterfinal in Paris, 7-5, 6-2, 6-3.
“I expect a really tough, tough match, tough challenge for both of us,” Djokovic said of his sixth career clash with the Greek. “Semifinals of Grand Slam, I mean, this is what you expect. You expect to play a top-five, top-10 player. This is what I get. I'm hopefully going to be able to feel my best and play my best.”
Djokovic started his tilt with Carreno Busta in a bad way, sporting a large patch of kinesio tape on the back of his neck as he grimaced through an uninspiring opening set that saw him recover a break deficit but squander it in the very next game and drop the set, 6-4.
For moments during the opening set it looked as if the curse of Carreno Busta might be real. The Spaniard was the man on the other side of the net when Djokovic was defaulted from the US Open for hitting a lineswoman with a ball in early September in New York, and there he was on a chilly Wednesday evening in Paris, angling to play the spoiler again.
That fateful New York encounter ended Djokovic’s quest for an 18th major title and introduced the obligatory wave of criticism and the soul-searching that accompanies such a regrettable incident.
Since then Djokovic has made amends moved forward in Paris, but the fact remains that the pair’s recent history is bizarre, and on Wednesday it felt at times like Djokovic might be heading to another unthinkable nightmare defeat at the hands of the Spaniard, a player that he had easily brushed aside in their three meetings before that fateful US Open encounter.
Down a set and serving at 1-1, 15-40 it was beginning to look worrisome for the World No.1. Was an injury going to sabotage his hopes for another Roland Garros title run?
But Djokovic, after grimacing through a set and a half while suffering neck and shoulder issues, warmed to the task and started to hit back at the Spaniard.
“I definitely didn't feel great coming into the court today,” Djokovic said. “Few things happened in the warmup. I had to deal with those physical issues coming onto the court. As the match went on, I felt better, didn't feel as much pain.”
Djokovic didn’t want to take too much credit for the Spaniard, and he was right in saying the Carreno Busta played some excellent tennis and forced Djokovic to find his game, or else.
“I don't want to take away anything from his good performance,” he said. “Especially for a set and a half he was the better player, dictating the play. I was very neutral. I didn't have much of energy really happening in my legs or movement or game itself. It took me about set and a half to really get comfortable and start really playing the way I should.”
The Serb would get his motor purring and display much more of the form that we saw in the first four rounds as Djokovic ran roughshod over his first four opponents, dropping just 25 games on his way to the quarterfinals.
In the latter stages of the contest, with Djokovic up two sets to one, Carreno Busta pushed back and threatened to make another dent in the scoreline, but by that time too much hot blood was coursing through the veins of the top seed. He served his way through a pair of difficult deuce games to keep the fourth set level at 2-all, then broke critically for 4-3 and held on to close the contest in four sets.
“It was really anybody's game,” Djokovic surmised. “It was so close. He had his chances. I had my chances. It was a very even match even though it was three sets to one.”
The battle lasted three hours and ten minutes, and afterwards Djokovic didn’t seem too bothered by the injuries that plagued him in the early moments.
“I had some neck issues and some shoulder issues,” he said. “I'll just say that. I mean, I don't want to get really too much into it. Obviously I'm still in the tournament, so I don't want to reveal too much.”
Djokovic has suffered neck pain on and off since the Western and Southern Open in New York, several weeks before the US Open. He looked out of sorts there at times but still managed to come away with the title.
With Djokovic, pain and pleasure often go hand in hand. In 2020, there has been plenty of each. He improved to 36-1 on the season with his win and pointed to better days ahead.
“I'm feeling okay,” he said. “I think, as I said, as the match progressed, I warmed up by body, and the pain kind of faded away. It allowed me to play better and better and feel better.”