“He can do it, he’s done it so many times in his career”: Mouratoglou predicts Djokovic v Sinner
Patrick Mouratoglou gives his take on the upcoming Wimbledon semi-final
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All eyes in tennis are on this Friday’s Wimbledon semi-finals, where seven-time champion Novak Djokovic takes on world No 1 Jannik Sinner.
With 15 years separating the two players, much rides on this match. Djokovic has long said that he will play for as long as he can be competitive with the next generation of player. With Sinner having won their past four meetings, would a fifth loss signal be the final nail in the coffin for the Serbian? Or can he pull off yet another against-the-odds victory on the biggest stage, and prove once more how much of an anomaly he is?
Renowned tennis coach Patrick Mouratoglou has weighed in with his take on the upcoming match, highlighting key areas to look for in Djokovic v Sinner.
Sinner a favourite in Mouratoglou’s eyes
Without mincing any words, Mouratoglou is clear that he believes Sinner is the heavy favourite heading into Friday’s encounter.
“If you just look at the level of both players, Sinner is a huge favourite,” Mouratoglou said of the upcoming Wimbledon semi-final. “They have the same type of game, but I think Jannik is playing much better that game at the moment.
“Look at the performance of both players coming to the semi-final: there is a huge difference of level.”
Movement the key
However, the ability – or inability – of both players to move will be one of the deciding factors, says Mouratoglou.
“The first thing I want to look at, it’s not so much the elbow of Jannik, but it is his movement,” he said.
“I think since he fell several times against Grigor, he’s scared to move. He’s extremely careful when he has to run fast to the side.
“If Novak can make him run to the sides a lot, that might play a big role. Especially, when you are scared to fall, that’s how you fall also more. If he has one bad fall, this will hurt his movement a lot.
“We know also how movement on grass is a key element for success.”
While doubts linger over Sinner’s movement on grass, a question mark equally hovers over Djokovic’s physical shape heading into the final four. The Serbian took a tumble in his quarter-final match, and subsequently withdrew from his Thursday practise session at Wimbledon.
“Last thing we have to check is Novak,” Mouratoglou explained. “Same, he fell on the last point against Cobolli. I think that 90 per cent of players falling that way would be injured.
“Thankfully, he’s the most flexible tennis player. He looked like he was completely OK. We’ll see. For sure his muscle contracted really hard because he was falling, and to stretch really hard a muscle that is contracting, he might be sore the day after.
“Let’s see how it is when it comes to the match against Jannik.”
How bad does Djokovic want it?
As in so many of Djokovic’s matches over the years, he will be the deciding variable. As Mouratoglou points out, the 24-time Grand Slam champion has a unique ability to raise his level when it matters most – but, that was quality was missing in his most recent clash against Sinner.
“The ability of Novak to raise his level when it comes to the big matches [is key to this match],” he said.
“I don’t know which Novak we’ll have in this semi-final. But, we can never count him out, because that’s how he made his career. He’s always been able to play an incredible level when it really counts.
“In Roland-Garros, I didn’t see the Novak that was competing for life and death. He didn’t play like we say in France with ‘the knife between the teeth’. He’s winning, because he’s Novak and he knows how to win matches, but his level is not good.
“Now he plays a semi-final against the No 1 in the world. He will have to rise to the occasion and play way better than he has the whole tournament.
“But he can do it, he’s done it so many times in his career.”
The pair play second on Friday, after Carlos Alcaraz and Taylor Fritz play in the first semi-final of the day.
