Djokovic disappeared right in the middle of the match with Rublev. The trick worked

For the third time this year, Andrei Rublev could reach the final of the Masters series tournament. At the same time, the path to the decisive match in Paris was very difficult for the Russian, because in the semifinals he had to play with Novak Djokovic. Of the five matches with the Serbian, Andrei won only one.

The second victory over the great Serb was within striking distance, but even the best game of the season did not help to achieve it.

Claim to win

The last three meetings between the tennis players ended in fairly confident victories for Novak. In the Wimbledon quarterfinals, Rublev took the first set and gave hope to his fans, but then the Serb turned on monster mode and crushed Andrey, not allowing him into the semifinals.

Since then, our tennis player has played two finals with a 50% result: he defeated Ruud in Båstad and lost to Hurkacz in the Shanghai Masters final two weeks ago. Novak had a phenomenal US Open and entered the end of the season as a king.

True, before the tournament in Paris, the Serb, in his traditional manner, complained about his health, creating in the minds of his opponents a false impression of his unpreparedness. Maybe so, but Nole immediately won the first game on Rublev’s serve. This did not shock Andrey, who decided to cling to every play and not let go of his opponent. In the long second game, our player earned a break point, which he immediately capitalized on a Serbian mistake.

The key moment of the first game for Andrey could have happened in the eighth game. The Russian was leading 4:3 and faced three break points on his opponent’s serve – an ideal situation to close out the set. However, Novak took five rallies in a row, and the difficult situation turned in favor of Djokovic – 4:4.

Andrey Rublev / Photo: © REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq

But Andrey was very collected that evening in Paris. He closed subsequent games on his serve without any problems, executing the first serve surprisingly accurately and powerfully. But Djokovic still wavered. When it came to the tiebreaker, the Serb weakened his serve and ended the set with an extremely unsuccessful shortened one in favor of Rublev – 5:7.

Typical Novak

The usual Djokovic, to whom everyone is accustomed, after losing the first set, destroys his opponent in the next. But in France, Nole is still not completely like himself – too many mistakes in simple plays and a lack of strength to run after every ball are striking.

Even when in the fifth game, at the cost of incredible efforts, the Serb got three break points, he was unable to put pressure on the Russian. Andrey made alaverdi and, just like Novak in the first game, took five rallies in a row and won the game on his serve.

In the second set there were many long rallies, during which Novak felt more and more confident. If at the beginning of the game Andrei was leading the game, then in the second half of the set one could already feel the pressure from Novak.

Andrey Rublev / Photo: © Dean Mouhtaropoulos / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

Nevertheless, Rublev endured until the tiebreaker, in which he presented the audience with a rally of amazing dynamics and scope with the score 2:3. This episode became the highlight of the match, but did not bring satisfaction to Andrey. Losing 2:4, the Russian was no longer able to reach the Serb: 7:5, 6:7 (3:7).

Deadly result

It is very difficult for Novak to play three-hour matches without breaks, so during the break he used a traditional technique: he took a medical time-out. The pause dragged on so long that Andrei managed to communicate with the coaching staff during this time and, it seems, forgot the offensive ending of the second game. Novak was not on the court for almost 15 minutes.

Returning, the Serb continued to press. As in the second game, Andrey had difficulty holding his serve. In the fourth game he was losing 15:40, but again saved the most important game. We must pay tribute to the Russian, who showed a heroic game, maintaining equality in the score over and over again. And even at 0:30 on the score 4:5, he mustered his will and did not allow Novak to earn match points.

Andrey Rublev / Photo: © Dean Mouhtaropoulos / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

The same situation was repeated a few minutes later, when the Serbian led 6:5. Rublev was unable to resist the 24-time Grand Slam winner for the second time in a row. The most offensive thing is that Andrei lost this semi-final, making a double fault. He certainly did not deserve such a result after a tense three-hour match: 7:5, 6:7 (3:7), 5:7.

Nole once again demonstrated that he knows tennis better than anyone in the world. In the final he will play against Grigor Dimitrov. Andrey can hardly blame himself for anything, because in terms of the quality of the game this match was perhaps his best of the season.