Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams have both entered the French Open semifinals at Roland Garros on Thursday.
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Friday’s other semifinal will see second seed Andy Murray take on Swiss third seed and defending champion Stan Wawrinka.
Or will Djokovic have enough energy left in the tank after playing four days in succession at the rain-ravaged claycourt grand slam to become the first man in nearly 50 years to hold all four majors at once?
Murray is seeking to become the first British man to reach the Roland Garros final since Bunny Austin in 1937 and he leads the No. 3-seeded Wawrinka 8-7 overall.
The 22-year-old reached the last four of a major for the first time with a 4-6 7-6 (7) 6-4 6-1 win over Belgium’s David Goffin.
He saved another break point with a forehand victor at 4-1 but couldn’t save a second, hitting a backhand long, for Djokovic to then serve for the set at 5-1.
“But because of the fact that I have to play every day, my focus right away goes for recovery and the next match”.
Djokovic had lost the French Open finals in 2012 and 2014 to nine-time champion Rafael Nadal while a year ago, he squandered a one-set lead to go down to Stan Wawrinka.
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic waves with ball boys after defeating Austria’s Dominic Thiem during their semifinal match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium, Friday, June 3, 2016 in Paris.
It was clear how good he considered his chances to be here after beating Djokovic in the final of the Rome Masters a week before the tournament when he said of the Stepanek victory: “It could turn out to be one of the biggest wins of my career”.
Djokovic was fortunate that a moment of petulance midway through the third set did not scupper his hopes of winning the only grand slam missing from his collection.
“I think it was the first time in my career I played a semi-final on (Court Suzanne) Lenglen, it was special”, said Djokovic, who had to play away from the main show court after bad weather wreaked havoc on the tournament’s schedule.
Men’s tennis has enjoyed a boom in recent years, with Djokovic, Federer and Nadal leading the career prize money ranks with over $250 million in earnings between them.
Serena Williams waves as she leaves the court. And rather than both men’s semfinals taking place on center court, Djokovic and Thiem were given a date on Lenglen following the women.
On the women’s side, 22-year-old Garbine Muguruza once more reinforced the fact that she is the best of the upcoming generation as she reached her second Major final in less than 12 months. Bertens defeated eighth seed Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland in the other quarterfinal. The fourth-seeded Muguruza hit a forehand smash at the net to earn two break points and converted the first to take a 1-0 lead. Chris Event is second on that list with 28 victories after losing the first set and then winning a match. “It propelled me to many, many, many wins after that”.
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It was a shame that only a handful of shivering spectators turned up on Court Suzanne Lenglen to watch Thiem’s racket skills.
