For the first time since 2015, Novak Djokovic will play in the semifinals of the Rolex Masters in Monte Carlo.
The world's best tennis player won the third match without losing a set in his place of residence - after Sijafulin and Musetti, today he was better than the Australian Alex de Minaur in the quarterfinals - 7:5, 6:3, after two hours and five minutes of exhausting battle bright sun above the Cote d'Azur.
Tomorrow in the semi-finals he will face Kasper Rud - a rival from last year's Roland Garros final.
And what has Djokovic been doing in Monte Carlo since 2015?
The Masters, which he won the fewest times (twice - he won at least three times at each of the others), usually served him as a preparation for a busy season on clay, for him, as he himself pointed out, the most demanding surface.
That's how he knew in the past seasons that Spain would be in the first or second round.
That year in 2015, he got the "king of clay" Rafael Nadal in the final, and then a bad streak began.
Next, in 2016, Czech Jan Veseli surprised him already in the 1/16 finals, while in 2017 he made it to the quarterfinals, where Belgian David Gofan was better. In 2018, Djokovic lost to Dominic Thiem in the round of 2019, and in XNUMX, he lost to Russian Danilo Medvedev in the quarterfinals.
The corona year followed, in 2020, in which Monte Carlo was not even played, and then three bad seasons in the Principality - in 2021, he was eliminated in the round of 2022 by Briton Dani Evans, in 2023, already in the first round by Spaniard Alehand Davidovic-Fokina , and last year in XNUMX again in the round of XNUMX from the Italian Lorenzo Musetti.
This year's appearance in Monte Carlo was preceded by a weak part of the season for Djokovic, parting with coach Goran Ivanišević ("I don't know what to expect myself", he said before the start of the tournament) but, well, slightly better results arrived after 20 days of hard work with the new, temporary coach Nenad Zimonjić.
The Serbian tennis player also became the oldest participant in the semi-finals of the Masters in Monte Carlo, and if he wins the tournament, he will be the only player in history who has won all tournaments from the 1.000 category - at least three times. He is already the only one who has done it - at least twice.
Bonus video:
