 "Novak Djokovic became the second-oldest player to reach the semi-finals of the French Open following his victory over Alexander Zverev. Reuters")
Novak Djokovic kept his quest for a record-breaking 25th Grand Slam triumph alive after recovering from a set down in his French Open quarter-final meeting with Alexander Zverev, defeating the German 4-6 6-3 6-2 6-4.
The victory over the the world No 3 in the game that lasted three hours and 17 minutes helped the 38-year-old become the oldest semi-finalist at the French Open in 57 years and the second-oldest in the Open Era.
American tennis player Ricardo ‘Pancho’ González was slightly older at 40 years old when he had defeated Australia’s Roy Emerson 7-5, 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4 to advance to the Roland Garros semi-finals. He would go on to lose to the legendary Rod Laver the very next game to bow out in the semi-finals.
Djokovic registers 101st victory at Roland Garros
Wednesday’s victory over Zverev, which setup a semi-final clash with world No 1 Jannik Sinner, was also Djokovic’s 101st victory at Roland Garros, the venue where he had fulfilled his dream of winning an Olympic gold medal in the Paris Games last year.
Former world number one Djokovic is just two matches away from becoming the first player, male or female, to win 25 Grand Slam singles trophies.
Earlier on Wednesday Sinner booked his spot in the last four with a straight-sets win over Kazakh Alexander Bublik.
“Obviously there was a lot of tension, pressure but it is normal when you play against Zverev, one of the best in the world, in the last five-six years,” Djokovic said in a post-match interview.
“My game is based on a lot of running. I am 38 years old, it is not easy to keep running like that but, okay, it works.”
“A match like the one this evening is the biggest reason why I continue playing and competing at this level,” he said.
Zverev, last year’s finalist who is still searching for a maiden Grand Slam title, started out strongly and broke Djokovic in the very first game.
Attempting to join the Serb, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer as the only men in the Open Era to reach French Open semi-finals in five consecutive years, the German held on to that advantage to earn the first set.
Knowing he could not match his 28-year-old opponent for fitness, Djokovic tried to keep the rallies as short as possible, playing more and more drop shots – 35 in total – to force the tall Zverev to the net.
Djokovic broke his opponent at 2-1 in the second set and was quickly 4-1 up before Zverev had any time to react. He secured the second set with yet another drop shot.
The veteran then broke Zverev twice more to bag the third set with his opponent running out of steam, lacking accuracy and having no clear plan B.
Another break at the very start of the fourth set put Djokovic 2-0 up and firmly on the winning track before he wrapped it up on his fifth match point to reach a record-extending 51st Grand Slam semi-final.
With Reuters inputs