Djokovic concerned about “physically keeping up” with Sinner in Roland-Garros semis
The No 5 seed is high on motivation but is unsure how his body will hold up in the next round
Dante Badano / PsnewZ
Heading into Friday’s Roland-Garros semi-final against Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic has one main concern: physicality.
Injuries have ended two of the 38-year-old’s last three Grand Slam campaigns, and while he has shown no sign of any major issues so far this tournament, the three hours and 17 minutes he spent on court with world No 3 Alexander Zverev will have taken their toll on Thursday.
“I just hope that I will be able to physically keep up,” Djokovic confessed after his clash with Zverev which the German himself described as “quite a physical match”.
“It’s a big challenge for me.”
Djokovic high on motivation heading into Sinner clash
The Serbian is relishing playing at the pointy end of a Grand Slam once again, however, and isn’t short of motivation heading into the clash.
“It’s going to be, of course, [the] semi-finals of a Grand Slam against the No 1 in the world,” he said. “There is no bigger occasion for me, so I’ll try to do my best to step it up and perform as well as I did tonight.
“These kind of matchups and challenges in a way extract the best out of me. You know, playing best-of-five, late stages of a Grand Slam against No 1 in the world, you can’t get more motivated than that for me at this age.”
Djokovic is keenly aware of the challenge that awaits him in Sinner, with the Italian having won 31 of his last 32 matches.
“Jannik is in tremendous form, and he has been the best player for the last couple of years, deservedly,” he continued. “He’s been playing some terrific tennis, attacking tennis, and just super strong from every aspect of his game.
“I haven’t played him now in quite some time, and, you know, we always had some exciting matches. At one point I think we played three, four matches in a very short amount of time on hard court, but I don’t think–we played maybe once I think on clay in Monte-Carlo years ago.”
Tactically, Djokovic played a brilliant match to see off Zverev, heavily utilising the dropshot and his hands at the net to win in four sets. Against the power-striking of Sinner, however, Djokovic faces an entirely different challenge.
Djokovic not focusing on Sinner
But the Serb is less worried about the other side of the net, and more focused on what he can bring to the match up.
“I know what to expect from Jannik,” he explained.
“He’s going to come out. He’s going to play on a very high level, as he did basically every tournament that he played in the last year and a half. I don’t expect anything less from him.
“That’s how I see it now. How am I going to stop him? I don’t think about that. I think about how am I going to execute what I want on the court and feel how I want to feel. That’s where my thoughts are going.
“Of course I’m going to sit with my team tomorrow and think about it, work on the practice court a little bit on specifics that will be the case when I play Jannik. I’ll do my best to get ready.”
