If it is a day ending in the word day, Novak Djokovic is once again on the tennis court doing Houdini maneuvers to hold off the next generation of tennis players.
Saturday’s victim was Andrey Rublev who played his best tennis of the year and still could not beat Novak.
Rublev has only beaten Novak one time in his career, and that was on clay; he is 1-5 in head-to-head matches.
Novak dealt with a massive Rublev game and some back issues and an ongoing stomach ailment for which he sought treatment a few nights ago, but when it came down to the end of the third set, he played the cleaner tennis to earn the win.
After the match, he said that Rublev was “suffocating” him with his outstanding shotmaking.
Novak Djokovic says Andrey Rublev suffocated him on the court:
“Rublev was suffocating me like a snake suffocates a frog for most of the match. He was playing at an extremely high level. I knew he possessed a great quality, but today he played off the charts. I don’t think I’ve… pic.twitter.com/NNyg819El7
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) November 4, 2023
WOW. An absolutely incredible match, I can’t tell you how proud I am with @DjokerNole feeling the effects of his stomach bug, but giving up is just not in his DNA. A really high level match, Rublev played so well but Djokovic is into the FINAL!#Djokovic pic.twitter.com/ihQlSXWVKr
— Pavvy G (@pavyg) November 4, 2023
Next up for Djokovic is a fellow 30-something, Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov.
Dimitrov is 1-11 in head-to-head matchups with Novak and has never beaten him on a hard court.
That one victory came on clay ten years ago, but Dimitrov never backs down from a challenge and is playing outstanding tennis right now.
🇧🇬 Grigor Dimitrov, speaking yesterday, on having to play his career at the same time as Nadal, Djokovic and Federer:
“The Big Three, you know what? I loved being able to live during their time.
I confronted them all and I beat them. It is clear that they beat me ten times… pic.twitter.com/DLF7bI0wbs
— Olly 🎾🇬🇧 (@Olly_Tennis_) November 4, 2023
There is a lot of respect and friendship between the two players, but when they step on the court tomorrow, Novak will be all business again.
Your 2023 Bercy final…
Novak Djokovic vs ‘my friend Grigor here, best-looking guy on the tour’ 😂 pic.twitter.com/ZxZjpwr0rL
— Bastien Fachan (@BastienFachan) November 4, 2023
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