Warning his rivals that he does not intend to let them win, Novak Djokovic passed Tuesday to the semifinals of Wimbledon for the 12th time, where the Ukrainian will also be Elina Svitolina“stronger” than ever after being a mother and suffering the war in her country.
The 36-year-old Serbian, seeking his eighth title at the London All England Club and the 24th Grand Slam of his career, defeated Russian Andrey Rublev 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in two hours and 48 minutes and 6-3.
On Thursday he will face the Italian Jannik Sinnereighth player in the ATP ranking, who also beat a Russian, Roman Safiullin (N.92), in four sets.
Djokovic, current number 2 in the world after having been the tennis player with the most accumulated weeks with number 1 in history, has now reached as many Grand Slam semifinals, 46, as the retired Roger Federer and has not lost a match on Center Court in Wimbledon since 2013.
However, he assured that he does not like to “think about numbers” when he is playing a tournament and that he “adores” the fact of being the adversary that everyone dreams of winning. “Nole” is determined to reach the final on Sunday, where he could meet the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, the first racket in the world whom he defeated in June in Paris when he was affected by severe cramps due to nerves.
The 21-year-old Sinner already faced the Serb at Wimblendon last year, where he lost in the quarterfinals after an impressive comeback by Djokovic after the young Italian clinched the first two sets.
To get here again, Sinner said he had “invested a lot”, “made a lot of sacrifices”. And he declared himself happy with his game against Safiullin, whom he beat 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 and 6-2.
Also Svitolina, who qualified for the semifinals eliminating with great determination the world number one, the Polish Iga Swiatek, said she felt “stronger” on her return to the courts three months ago, after giving birth in October. The Ukrainian, former world number 3, is now ranked number 76 on the WTA after returning to the circuit in April, no longer ranked.
“The war made me stronger, also mentally. I no longer see difficult moments as catastrophes. There are worse things in life. Now I am calmer. And since I have just returned to compete, the pressure is not the same,” he explained.
Svitolina has reached the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament twice in her career, at Wimbledon and at the US Open in 2019, but never reached the final.
Winning 7-5, 6-7 (5) and 6-2, the 28-year-old Ukrainian played very aggressively against Swiatek who recognized her “guts”. The number one in the world had never reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals until now, despite being a double champion at Roland Garros.
Svitolina will face the Czech Marketa Vondrousova (N.42), who went to the semifinal after coming back from 4-1 and service down in the third set against the American Jessica Pegula (N.4), which she won 6-4, 2-6 and 6 -4.
Source: Ambito
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