The last hope

Djoko is almost like an LL in this tournament after Musetti’s retirement, which feels like a miracle for the Serb

Far from his usual standards and absolutely dominated by Musetti in his quarterfinal, Djoko scraped through. He’s not showing tennis anywhere near the level we were expecting, which is a shame because everything is nicely set up for him to play his semi with the best possible chance of winning. With his age, he can't afford to lose too many sets before facing Alcaraz/Sinner, and that’s the case here: he’s still super fresh, but now it’s his level that’s worrying. He’s aware of it and says he needs to raise his game, that he’s still Djoko and he can beat anyone. Which is true, we’re not talking about just anyone, and as long as he hasn’t been knocked out, he remains a threat.

A threat even for Sinner? It’s getting harder and harder to believe that Sinner and Alcaraz can lose to just anyone, they’re so far ahead in terms of level that they’re simply too strong. The Italian had a few issues because of the heat but he recovered well in my opinion, he’s finally into his tournament and we’re in the semis now, so at this stage you really have to want it to beat him. He’s won the last 5 official matches against Djoko, he’s become an “improved” version of the Serb, he returns almost as well and plays with even more intensity from the baseline without making mistakes, the Serb seems outmatched.

I don’t really have any arguments in Djoko’s favor except that he’s still Djoko, once again. It’s an argument we have to take into account, but one that’s gradually losing weight...