Tennis: Novak Djokovic forced to grind before setting up superstar French Open final

Serbia's Novak Djokovic celebrates winning his semifinal match of the French Open tennis tournament against Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas. Photo / AP

Novak Djokovic seemed well on his way to yet another ho-hum victory, yet another French Open final, yet another match-up against rival Rafael Nadal. And then, suddenly, what had been a gallop became a grind.

Slightly more than two hours into his semifinal against Stefanos Tsitsipas, Djokovic was serving for the match, one point from ending things in straight sets. But a down-the-line backhand veered a tad wide, Djokovic rolled his eyes and, eventually, he was stuck in a serious situation, somehow pushed to five sets.

As is usually the case, though, he was up to the task when it mattered the most. Djokovic got back in gear down the stretch to hold off the much younger, much less accomplished Tsitsipas 6-3, 6-2, 5-7, 4-6, 6-1 to reach his fifth title match in Paris.

"Yes, I stayed calm on the surface, but deep down, it was a totally different matter," Djokovic said. "But I think that when I lost the third set, I stayed mentally strong."

Standing in the way of world No 1 Djokovic, a 33-year-old from Serbia, on Monday at Court Philippe Chatier — he is pursuing a second trophy there and 18th from all Grand Slam tournaments — will be, as it's been so often, No 2 Nadal, a 34-year-old from Spain. It will be their 56th meeting, a record between two men in the professional era (Djokovic leads 29-26), 16th at a major (Nadal leads 9-6) and eighth at Roland Garros (Nadal leads 6-1).

"It's his house, with all the titles he's won here," Djokovic said.

In addition to closing in on an unfathomable 13th French Open championship with a 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (0) win over 12th-seeded Diego Schwartzman, Nadal now gets a chance to tie Roger Federer for the men's record of 20 Grand Slam titles.

As has been the case for quite some time, Nadal didn't want to address the idea of pulling even with Federer, saying it's fine for others to talk about such matters, but his focus remains squarely on the task at hand.

"I'm playing the most important tournament of the year — that's what motivates me," Nadal insisted.

While Nadal only dealt with the slightest tension late in his third set, that's when everything became more interesting for Djokovic against Tsitsipas, a 22-year-old from Greece in his second Grand Slam semifinal.

Djokovic broke to lead 5-4 in the third and served for the win, holding that match point at 40-30. He would require another one hour, 45 minutes to finish the job.

However, Djokovic saw off his young challenger and is now 37-1 in 2020, the only setback coming via a disqualification at the US Open last month.

Nadal improved to 99-2 at the French Open, including a combined 25-0 in semifinals and finals, as he seeks a fourth consecutive title in Paris. That would add to his previous streaks of four in a row from 2005-08 and five from 2010-14, to go along with four trophies at the US Open, two at Wimbledon and one at the Australian Open.

He has won all 15 sets he has played, making a mockery of the supposed explanations for why this year might be different for Nadal in the City of Lights. The shift in dates from May-June to September-October, bringing cooler weather. New, slightly heavier, tennis balls. Nadal's decision to skip the US Open, leaving him with only three matches since tennis resumed in August. Then there was this: Schwartzman upset Nadal in straight sets on clay at the Italian Open last month.

"He improved," Schwartzman said, comparing these past two encounters, "and I just played little bit worse," with a hard-fought third set the toughest of his resistance.

"You have to suffer. You can't pretend to be in a final of Roland Garros without suffering. That's what happened there," Nadal said about the tight third set. "But I found a way, no?"

So, too, did Djokovic.

- AP