London: There’s no one in the Wimbledon draw who knows the grass better than Novak Djokovic. It may be playing a tad slower, bald in spots, lush for most part, and slippery at the corners, but the 38-year-old, who has stacked up 102 wins on Church Road, is an ace on this tricky terrain. Against the world No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the men’s semifinals on Friday, he will look to use that experience. Djokovic, who rallied for a 6-7 (6), 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 win over Italian Flavio Cobolli to reach a record 14th semifinal at the Championships, is playing his 20th consecutive Wimbledon. The Serbian superstar is bidding to win an eighth Wimbledon title and equal Federer’s record for the most men’s singles titles at SW19. Sinner leads the head-to-head 5-4, having won their last four matches, including the semifinals at Roland Garros a month ago on Paris’ slow, stubborn clay. But Djokovic has won their two Wimbledon meetings in 2022 and 2023.
As a surface, clay stresses on consistency, and asks more from the players in terms of physical reserves, while grass, even at its slowest, is a whole lot quicker, but on which covering ground is a whole different artform. After his fall in the opening game of his clash against Grigor Dimitrov, Sinner appeared more shocked than hurt. He was able to play at about 75 to 80 percent for two sets, while Djokovic, who slipped in the closing stages of his quarterfinal, recovered quickly. Sinner will wear a new pair of shoes for the semifinal, one which he won’t even use in practice, just to give him a better grip of the surface. He did that for the first time for his quarterfinal against American Ben Shelton. “On grass the main priority is to have (good) grip,” he said. “When the court is used a lot and you can see the dirt, then it’s easy to move,” Sinner said, “But then there are places where it’s this yellow grass, when it’s hot, the ball gets very fast. Then obviously there is the new grass, which is a little bit different to move also.” It’s these generational contests that Djokovic lives for because of the prize that could come at the end of it. “I lost in straight sets to Jannik in the semis of Roland Garros,” Djokovic said. “I get another opportunity, this is what counts. Sinner and Alcaraz are the leaders of men’s tennis today. I couldn’t ask for a bigger challenge.’’ Djokovic hopes to take the court pain free despite his fall in the quarterfinal. “I have about 10 people in my team working on every single aspect of my on-court, off-court preparation and recovery,” Djokovic said. “Sometimes I get tired of all the chores that I have to do on a daily basis to get my body ready to be able to perform. It’s a lot of hours off the court, in the gym, or on the table just trying to work with what I have.” After his loss to Sinner in the quarterfinals, Shelton touched on the factors that make the top-seed so difficult to get past. The Italian brings out his biggest game in tight situations, no looks at second serves at 30-30, and usually the point is over in a one-two strike. The Italian, younger by 14 years to Djokovic, will look to call the shots against the best counter tennis has ever seen. What the Serbian did in the Olympic final against Carlos Alcaraz some 12 months ago, is the kind of energy he’ll look to bring to SW19 on Friday. In the day’s first semifinal, two-time champion Carlos Alcaraz will take on American Taylor Fritz.
