What a great semifinal!!!
The world no.1 was expected not to struggle much against a injured Del Potro, but that wasn’t the case. Juan Martin has curiously found his best tennis even if he has been struggling with his left knee for the entire tournament.
In the quarter finals Delpo had a horrific slip in the opening game to surprise everybody and win the match against David Ferrer in straight sets. Not many were expecting the same feat in the semifinal, but Juan Martin surprised again.
The match was a 4 hours and 43 minutes epic. Nole wasn’t at his best especially at the beginning as it seemed to be more preoccupied at making Juan Martin to run than playing his best tennis.
The world no.1 won the first set “only” at the tiebreak to then lose the second set. That was a big surprise given Juan Martin fitness “Not only we have a match, but it’s a great one!”.
The world no.1 grabbed the third set to lead 1 break up in the forth. Juan Martin broke him back to get to the breaker. Here Nole couldn’t convert two consecutive match points when he was 6-4 up to lose the set.
The decider was also a close encounter with Djokovic gaining the decisive break in the 8th game and then seal the match holding service in the 9th. That was a wonderful match.
The Statistics
The stats are quite revealing as Nole blasted an incredible 80 winners (22 aces!) and Delpo 48. Maybe the Argentine lacked some free points on his serve as he blasted only 4 aces (in 5 sets!). Juan Martin was quite good in attacking Nole’s 2nd serve as he won 33 points out of 54.
From Nole
Djokovic commented after the match “I had lost a long match just a few weeks ago [French Open]. You can’t win all the matches.
But I know that when we get to the fifth set, when I play a top player at the later stages of a major event especially, this is where your physical strength and also mental ability to stay tough can decide the winner of that match.
“I was disappointed that I didn’t finish the match before in the fourth set. But I have more of a chance staying longer in the rally with him, and as the match goes on, I felt like physically I’m fit and can go a long way. So that’s something that gave me that mental advantage. In the end, I managed to prevail.”
From Delpo
“I was so close to be at the finals here in Wimbledon.
I think I played really good tennis for four hours and a half… He hit the ball so hard. I think it was unbelievable to watch, but, of course, I’m sad because I lost and I was close to beating him.”
