Djokovic approaches historic milestone as he moves past Khachanov! What weapon can he rely on?

With Nadal’s long-term absence, Novak Djokovic has a chance to make a name for himself in the historical ranking of Grand Slam winners. He has his first shot at making history again at Roland Garros. And the Serbian tennis player is so far walking through the Paris Grand Slam very fearlessly. What do his matches have in common?

At the moment, Novak Djokovic holds the historical record for the number of Grand Slams won together with Rafael Nadal. Both have 22 triumphs in the most prestigious tournaments. In a few days, everything could be different. The thirty-six-year-old tennis player is not far from the title at the French Open.

Novak Djokovic hasn’t lost a single set in the tournament so far. True, he hasn’t beaten any ATP heavyweight yet. His strongest opponent on paper was the Spaniard Davidovich Fokina, who is in the fourth ten of the ranking.

His results have one thing in common. With the exception of the eighth-final duel, Djoker has always helped himself significantly by winning the tiebreak. In the first round, he ended his duel with American Kovacevic with a shortened game. Against the Hungarian Fucsovics he then started the winning match with a tiebreak. Against the aforementioned Spaniard Fokine, he won the shortened game twice.

Tuesday’s match

The quarterfinal opponent of the tennis icon was Russian Karen Khachanov. He started the match brilliantly, broke the Serb’s serve in the fifth game, served very well himself and won the first set. In the second set both players held their serves and had to decide the tiebreak. And it was won by Novak Djokovic.

The match was in his hands from that point on. Djokovic took the following sets 6: 2 and 6: 4 and is now enjoying another progression to the Grand Slam semi-finals. He will be number 45. That’s an incredible number in itself. Let’s add that only on eleven occasions has a major ended in the semifinals for the Serb.

Djokovic’s tiebreaks

Let’s take an even closer look at the shortened games played by Novak Djokovic. They have been the key to the Belgrade native’s smooth progression at this year’s French Open so far. But are tiebreaks his strong weapon in the long run?

The answer is clearly yes. This year’s record before the French Open spoke in favour of the Serb at 9:4. Combined with the ongoing Grand Slam, the phenomenal tennis player is on a 14::4 record. It is worth mentioning the importance of shortened games on the overall result of the matches.

Without exception, the following rule applies: if Djokovic wins at least one tiebreak in a match, he always walks away as the overall winner of the match as well.

At this point, the Serbian player is two wins short of achieving a historic triumph. The best opponents are waiting for him. But one thing is clear, his opponent will not be too confident in the scrambles if two sixes appear on the scoreboard.

Source: Roland Garros, ATP