London: There is no one in the Wimbledon draw who knows the grass better than Novak Djokovic. It can play a tade slower, bald in spots, succulent for most parts, and slippery at the corners, but 38 -year -old, who has won 102 wins on Church Road, is aice in this difficult area. In the men’s semi -finals on Friday, he would like to use that experience against the world number 1 Jannik sinner. Djokovic, who won the Italian Flavio Koboli for 6-7 (6), 6–2, 7-5, 6-4, playing the role of his 20th Wimbledon, who is playing the 20th consecutive Wimbledon in the championship. Serbian superstar is bid to win an eighth Wimbledon title and SW19 has the record for the most men’s singles title. Sinner led the Head-to-Had 5-4, won his last four matches, including a month ago in Paris’s slow, stubborn clay, a semi-finals in the Lolland Garos. But Djokovic has won two Wimbledon meetings in 2022 and 2023.
As a surface, the soil emphasizes stability, and asks the players more in terms of physical reserves, while the grass, even its slowest, is completely sharp, but on which the covering ground is completely separate artforms. After his fall in his early game of his struggle against Grigor Dimitrov, the sinner appeared more shocked by injury. He was capable of playing at around 75 to 80 percent for two sets, while Djokovic, who slipped into the closing stages of his quarterfinal, quickly recovered. Sinner will wear a new pair of shoes for the semi -finals, one that he will not use even in practice, just to give him a better grip of the surface. He did this for the first time for his quarterfinals against American Ben Shelton. “The main priority (good) hold on the grass,” he said. “When the court is very used and you can see the dirt, it is easy to move,” the sinner said, “but then there are places where it is yellow grass, when it is hot, the ball becomes very sharp. Then obviously there is a new grass, which is also a little different to move.” It is these generational competitions that Djokovic lives due to the award that may come to its end. “I lost straight set to Jannik in the semi -finals of Rolland Garos,” Djokovic said. “I get another chance, this is what matters. Sinner and Alkaraz are the leaders of men’s tennis today. I cannot ask for a big challenge.” Djokovic hopes that the pain will be free in the court despite the decline in the quarter -finals. “There are about 10 people in my team who are working on every aspect of my on-court, off-court preparation and recovery,” Djokovic said. “Sometimes I get tired of all the tasks that I have to do on a daily basis to prepare my body to be able to perform. After his loss to the sinner in the quarter-finals, Shelton touched the factors that make it so difficult to bring the top-seed into the past. Italian brings out his biggest game under tight conditions, does not serve another at 30–30, and usually this point ends in one or two strikes. Italian for Djokovic for 14 years will see to call shots against the best counter tennis. What Serbian did in the Olympic final against Carlos Alakraj some 12 months ago is the kind of energy he will see to bring to SW19 on Friday. In the first semi -finals of the day, two -time champions Carlos Alakraj will take the American Taylor Fritz.
