Is a notable pass a drag or a bypass? The general public in Rome wonders with interest about Stan Wawrinka, 37, former world number 3, champion of three Slams in the generation of the Fab four, beating the number 1 of the time: Nadal, at the Australian Open 2014 Novak Djokovic at Roland Garros.
2015 and Nole once more at america Open 2016. The 37-year-old Swiss is the second most unfortunate of the champions, with 2 operations on his knee and a couple of on his foot, continually on the left. He gained sixteen titles and, particularly, eleven finals in a row in the golden years, from 2014 to 2016, together with the 2014 Monte Carlo Masters a thousand in opposition to the “Switzerland 1”, Roger Federer, with whom he carried out Olympic gold in doubles.
In his specific history in Rome, to qualify for the 2008 final, he had eliminated 4 future kings of the classification: Safin in the first round, Murray in the second, Ferrero in the third and Roddick in the semi-final, only to lose to would-be next No.
1 Djokovic in the final. He returned to the Foro Italico from 361 in the ranking: last year he played just 6 matches but in mid-March he greeted the circuit and reappeared directly 12 months later in Marbella, immediately losing to Elias Ymer in straight sets.
The same in Monte Carlo with Bublik, from whom he nevertheless took a set. And, in his growth, in the IBI he defeated the bomber Reilly Opelka in his debut, he won the arm wrestling match against the massive but disgusting and unpredictable Serbian Laslo Djere.
He can now dream of reliving old times and re-proposing the challenge to Djokovic in the third round, with whom he is 6-19 in heads-up matches, but to much cheering from the DOC.
Nole Djokovic won 20 Grand Slams
World No.
1 Novak Djokovic has joined Alexander Zverev in speaking out against the organizers of the Madrid Open for scheduling a late-night semifinal on Saturday ahead of Sunday’s final. “You can’t finish your semifinal match at 1:00 AM and play the final the next day.
I understand that they want to sell more tickets by scheduling a late night session on Saturday, but that can cause problems,” he said. During his press conference, Djokovic stressed that tournament organizers should ideally speak to players regarding scheduling and revealed that he had attempted to sort out the issue when he was president of the ATP Players’ Council.
“The organizers should talk to the players before making these kinds of decisions,” the World No. 1 said. “When I was the president of the Players’ Council several years ago, I tried to solve this problem. But still, nothing changed.”
Novak Djokovic made the Rome Masters debut in his first notable season in 2007. The young Serb beat Marcos Baghdatis and Robin Soderling before losing to Rafael Nadal in the quarter-final. Novak claimed the Foro Italico title a year later to kick off an incredible journey that has brought him five trophies so far in the Italian capital.
Djokovic is fighting for the sixth this week, beating three rivals to enter the semis and facing Casper Ruud in Saturday’s clash for a place in the final. Novak came to Rome with 59 wins at this event, and he became the third player with 60 triumphs at a single Masters 1000 tournament.
That record was reserved for Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, and Novak has joined his greatest rivals on the list after passing the first obstacle in the Italian capital. Nadal has won 73 matches in Monte Carlo and 69 in Rome, while Federer stands on 66 in Indian Wells.
Djokovic has now entered the exclusive ‘Club 60’ and will try to celebrate the feat with the sixth title.
Novak Djokovic is the third player with 60 wins at a single Masters 1000 event.
Novak defeated Rafa in the 2011 Rome final before losing the final to the Spaniard a year later.
Since 2014, Djokovic has been the semi-finalist in Rome, winning back-to-back titles in 2014 and 2015 and adding another two years ago. Last year, Nadal toppled Djokovic in the title clash and prevented him from celebrating the milestone 60th win a year earlier.
It came at this week’s second round against Aslan Karatsev, whom Novak beat 6-3, 6-2 in an hour and a half. The Serb lost serve once and delivered four breaks to control the scoreboard and make a winning start. Novak reached the 16th Rome Masters quarter-finals from as many trips following a rock-solid 6-2, 6-2 victory over Stan Wawrinka, whom he beat in the 2008 title clash.
Djokovic served well and delivered five return games to leave a great rival behind and find himself in the last eight. Novak had to work hard to remain on the title course against Felix Auger-Aliassime, beating the Canadian 7-5, 7-6 in their first clash on the Tour.
Djokovic needed two hours and nine minutes to prevail, although he could have sealed the deal earlier after serving for both sets. The young Canadian erased the deficit to prolong them, but it was insufficient to force a decider.
Novak won 14 points more, defending three out of five break chances and stealing Felix’s serve five times from eight opportunities. Auger-Aliassime had more service winners and the advantage in the shortest rallies up to four strokes. Djokovic erased that and forged the lead in the more advanced exchanges to set the clash against Casper Ruud.
Novak Djokovic to head straight to Archeological Park after Wimbledon
Bosnian Pyramids of the Sun co-founder Semir Osmanagic has confirmed world No. 1 Novak Djokovic will attend the tennis courts opening ceremony at the Archeological Park in Visoko. In March, the construction of two tennis courts at the Archeological Park started.
With the help of the people from the Novak Tennis Centre, the plan is to have two courts at the Archeological Park – one will be on hard and the other will be a clay court. The opening of two tennis courts will take place on July 13 and Djokovic will be among atendees.
The Wimbledon final is scheduled for July 10 and Djokovic will likely head straight from London to Visoko. “Two high-quality courts will be opened in the Ravne 2 Park. Construction began on March 21, and will end on July 13, and then we will open.
We are currently in negotiations with several top tennis players who should play an exhibition match, but we have yet to finalize the participants list,” Osmanagic told Bosnia media outlet Klix.
Osmanagic wanted to give Djokovic a place to prepare
Djokovic has become a regular guest at the Archeological Park in Visoko and one of the reasons why they decided to build two tennis courts was because they wanted to give the Serb a chance to prepare for tournaments.
Last month, Osmanagic revealed those two courts will be suited to the conditions similar to the ones at the French Open and US Open. From 2023 onward, Osmanagic hopes to yearly organize the Pyramids Cup, and to have the best players from the Balkans compete.
“From 2023, we want to be the organizers of the Pyramids Cup, which would bring together four of the best tennis players from the region. We hope there would play Marin Cilic, who was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, maybe Borna Coric, Damir Dumhur, if his schedule allows him maybe even Djokovic. The tournament would be played immediately after Wimbledon,” Osmanagic revealed.