“I’m very happy to be back in the semi-finals. It’s been a while. I love this tournament. I also love this club, where I trained for many years. In the last seven, eight years it’s been hard for me to win seven or eight games back to back, but here we are, another semi-final.”
Novak Djokovic, who at 36 years old became the oldest number 1 in the history of the ATP rankings, talked about his return to the semifinals at the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters, which he had missed for 8 years, at the press conference that followed his victory against Alex De Minaur at the quarter finals.
The ATP No.1 came just two wins away from his third title in Monte Carlo, the only ATP Master 1000 that the Serbian star has not won at least 3 times.
Djokovic showed a sufficient level to overcome De Minaur in the quarter-finals with a score of 7-5 6-4 and obtain his 77th career semifinal in an ATP Master 1000, breaking away from Rafael Nadal and also taking this record.
Not very consistent, tired and at times fouled with his best shot, the backhand, the Serbian still managed to attack the Australian tennis player in response, in an overall unspectacular match (to put it mildly!).
Djokovic analyzed the win over De Minaur
On the composed celebration for the semi-final record in an ATP Master 1000, Nole made a funny comparison with his Russian colleague Daniil Medvedev.
“It was just a sign of relief. I didn’t feel like celebrating too much. Sometimes I celebrate Medvedev! And sometimes I really celebrate. I think it’s very fun. It’s very authentic. Today I went Medvedev style,” he said.
Djokovic then analyzed the match won against De Minaur, explaining how the two tennis players did not express a great level of tennis.
“I think, particularly in the second set, there were a lot of unforced errors and a lot of breaks, which obviously on clay you can expect.
So yeah, I don’t think we played such good tennis in the second set. Maybe in the last few games, but, as he said, most of the second set was pretty bad,” he explained.
“Winning badly, is the title of whose book? I think it’s by Brad Gilbert? No. In the end maybe you don’t feel your best or you don’t play your best.
I think I had some really good moments, some brilliant moments, and some moments where I struggled to hit the ball cleanly.
But at the end of the day, a match quite similar to yesterday’s, even if with two different opponents. In important moments I managed to break serve and win the victory,” he analyzed honestly.
Breaking. (Records)#RolexMonteCarloMasters pic.twitter.com/V2E71sfI7l
— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) April 12, 2024