Alcaraz and Djokovic also play the attic of the circuit
The only time that Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic saw each other’s faces was last year in the semifinals of the Madrid Masters. One day after beating Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals, the Spaniard defeated Nole 6-7 (5), 7-5, 7-6 (5), to become the youngest player capable of beating both in a same tournament.
The protagonists of the semifinal have only coincided this year in one box before Roland Garros. It was at the Masters 1000 in Rome, where Djokovic fell in the round of 16 against Lorenzo Musetti and Alcaraz said goodbye in the third round against Fabian Marozsan, in one of the only three defeats they have conceded this season, compared to their 35 wins.
The injury that prevented the tennis player from El Palmar from playing in the Australian Open, Nole’s absences from the American hard court tournaments due to his refusal to get vaccinated against the covid and the different calendar chosen by both in the rest of the clay tournaments prior to Paris prevented their confluence in other paintings.
Since the beginning of the tournament, when the draw matched them on the same side of the key and it was known that they could meet in the semifinals, the hypothesis of this cross caught on with the greatest interest among all the fans, as Alcaraz himself highlighted after beating Stefanos Tsitsipas in quarterfinals. Both have always played on the same days. Both have left only one set on the way to the penultimate round. Alcaraz lost it against Taro Daniel, 112th, in the second round, and Djokovic in the quarterfinals, against Karen Khachanov, 14th.
New York, London and Melbourne
The last three champions in Grand Slam tournaments are measured. The Serbian won his sixth Wimbledon in 2022 and at the beginning of this year his tenth Australian Open, he could not play in New York, because he was not vaccinated against covid. There Alcaraz got his only major to date, to also become the youngest tennis player who managed to catch number 1.
That precious label is also put into dispute in today’s game. If Alcaraz wins, he will remain at the top. If he loses, the man from Belgrade will need to take the title to surpass him in the ranking. Both have recently alternated at the top of the ladder. Djokovic regained number 1 with his triumph in Melbourne, earlier in the season. Alcaraz rescued him again by winning in Indian Wells, to give it up the following week with his defeat in the Miami semifinals against Jannik Sinner. The Spaniard once again rose to the attic on May 22, after the tournament in Rome.
Djokovic has not lost in a major since he fell to Nadal in the quarterfinals of this same tournament in 2022. Add 19 consecutive victories, those of his titles in Wimbledon and Australia, in addition to the previous five in this edition of the tournament. It will be his twelfth semifinal in Paris, forty-fifth in a tournament of this category. For Alcaraz it is the second, as he recalled when talking about the game. The Serbian, champion in 2016 and 2021, is the second player with the most matches won at Roland Garros, 90, only surpassed by Nadal’s 112. Alcaraz has played it three times: he fell in the third round in 2021, against Jan-Lennard Sruff, and in the quarterfinals last year, against Alexander Zverev.