Cameron Norrie wins the first set and Novak Djokovic is also vulnerable in the second round of the Wimbledon semifinals. But the Serbian tennis superstar finds his form in time. With his entry into the final, he sets a new Grand Slam record.
Novak Djokovic against Nick Kyrgios, number three against number 40, the cool "Djoker" against the unpredictable King Kyrgios: The Wimbledon final on Sunday (3 p.m. / Sky and in the live ticker on ntv.de) promises fireworks of contrasts. After Kyrgios had been a finalist for almost 24 hours due to Rafael Nadal's injury-related withdrawal, Djokovic followed suit in the semifinals: 2: 6, 6: 3, 6: 2, 6: 4 against the number nined British player Cameron Norrie.
Djokovic is looking forward to the final, his 32nd overall in the four major tennis tournaments: record. "One thing is for sure," he said: "It will be an emotional explosion. He always plays as if he has nothing to lose."
"It's a kind of bromance between us," Kyrgios said before the eagerly awaited match between two very different characters, a kind of brotherly romance. The Australian repeatedly jumped to the side of the Serb when he was under constant media fire for his refusal to vaccinate at the beginning of the year. "Since then we sometimes write personal messages on Instagram," reported Kyrgios.
It took the Serb quite a while to get used to the match against Norrie. The Brit annoyed the big favorite with his left-handed serve, and Djokovic also made many slight mistakes for his standards. The Serb lacked any rhythm in the game, almost without resistance he allowed himself to be swept away in the first round by two service games to make it 2:3 and 2:5 and after just 32 minutes the set 2:6. "I didn't start well, he was the better player," admitted Djokovic and spoke of the "great expectations". Norrie, on the other hand, "had nothing to lose."
In the second set, Djokovic got a little more pressure, but he still played well below his best. For his part, he now benefited from many mistakes made by his opponent, Norrie seemed at times to be overwhelmed by the situation and the impressions on Center Court. Nevertheless, it took Djokovic a long time before he was able to capitalize on Norrie's weaknesses. He used the late break to 5:3 after 1:11 hours to equalize the set.
The quality of the match did not improve in the third set, but Djokovic got along more and more with the circumstances. Two more breaks meant the 2:1 set lead, Norrie made mistakes after mistakes and was unable to take advantage of the recurring weaknesses of his prominent opponent that day. Djokovic set the course early in the fourth set with a break to make it 1-0 and converted his first match point after 2:34 hours.
Djokovic has only played against Kyrgios twice in all these years - and lost twice. In 2017 in the round of 16 at Indian Wells and in the quarterfinals at Acapulco, Kyrgios had the better end for himself. "I'm sure you all think that Novak is the favorite, and maybe he is," said Kyrgios: "But it will definitely be a mouth-watering match." And hopefully, unlike his semi-final against Nadal, that will also take place.
