Pages

Total Pageviews

Wednesday, July 11, 2018

2018 Wimbledon Men's Singles QF's - Novak Djokovic defeats Kei Nishikori to reach first SF's since 2015

Novak Djokovic became a serious Wimbledon title contender as he made his first semi-final since 2015 with a 6-3 3-6 6-2 6-2 win over Kei Nishikori.

It was performance of resilience and resolve from the former number one, reminiscent of the player who held all four Grand Slam titles two years ago.

After Djokovic took the first set, his Japanese opponent saved four break points before levelling.
The Serb took the next and fought from a break down in the fourth to win.

Djokovic told BBC Sport: "It feels great to be in the last four of a Slam. I've been building in the past couple of weeks. The level of tennis has been going up in the past couple of months and tournaments.
"This is not the first time I have been in the semi-finals here but I will try to enjoy this victory.

"I am very grateful to play on the court I love [Centre Court] and to be competing at a high level. I am trying to get in the best possible shape for the biggest possible events and it doesn't come much bigger that Wimbledon."

Djokovic's last run to the final four at Wimbledon ended with him winning the tournament - and he then went on to lift the 2015 US Open and 2016 Australian and French Open titles, becoming only the third man to hold all four Grand Slam trophies at the same time

This is a 32nd Grand Slam semi-final appearance for Djokovic, although there was some doubt he would reach that mark.

A nagging elbow injury caused him to take an eight-month break from the sport prior to last year's US Open, and he also admitted to having to deal with personal issues.

He dropped out of the world's top 20 in May - yet his performance in June at Queen's, where he reached the final, suggested the 31-year-old could reach the second week at Wimbledon. But a semi-final?

After seeing off big servers Kyle Edmund and Karen Khachanov, he faced Nishikori, who had recovered from his own serious injury to hit peak form in reaching his first Wimbledon quarter-final.

No comments:

Post a Comment