World number 1 Carlos Alcaraz faces number 3 Novak Djokovic this Friday, June 9 for a place in the French Open final.
The big day for tennis fans! If some people would have liked to see Carlos Alcaraz facing Novak Djokovic in the Roland-Garros final, spectators and television viewers will be entitled to a semi-final. From the draw, eyes were riveted on this Friday day with the hope of seeing this clash between one of the best players of all time and the little Spanish prodigy, already world number 1 at only 19 years old. Since the start of the tournament, Carlos Alcaraz has rolled over his opponents and in particular in the quarter-finals against a totally helpless Stefanos Tsitsipas against the ardor, power and speed of the Spaniard. But opposite, there is still Novak Djokovic who intends to enter a little more into history. In the event of victory, he would be the only one to have won at least three times each Grand Slam tournament. Since the start of the French Open, “Nole” has been gaining momentum and has shown great consistency with only one set lost in the fortnight, against Khachanov in the quarter-finals.
History is now to be written on the central of Roland-Garros and the very young world number 1 is aware of it and looks forward to the meeting. “Since the draw, everyone has been waiting for this match, to see the semi-final against Novak, myself too,” Alcaraz said. I really want to play this game. Since last year, I wanted to face Novak again. We will both play a very high level. As I said before, if you want to be better, you have to beat the best. I look forward to this game to fully enjoy it. For me, it’s incredible to write history, to play the semi-final against a player like Novak. It will be a great game for me. The game we played last year doesn’t matter much compared to this one. So it will be something else altogether. We’ll see what happens on Friday. I would like to think my youth comes first but this will be his 45th Grand Slam semi-final, it will be my second. I would say experience takes precedence over that. I’m not going to think about it too much.”
For Novak, Carlos Alcaraz is “the person to beat here”. From the start of the tournament, the Serb indicated that the world number 1 was the big favorite. If it is a desire to take a little pressure off, the Spaniard seems to be starting slightly as the favorite of the meeting. “He brings a lot of his intensity to games. He reminds me of someone who plays well with his left hand in his country! He deserves his achievements, there’s no doubt about that. He works hard. He’s a complete player, I think he’s 19 or 20… We only played once in Madrid, 7/6 in the third for him. Since then we haven’t played against each other. It’s true, we weren’t in the same side of the table, but now, that’s it, it’s happening! I think a lot of people will want to see this game. It will surely be, for me the biggest challenge in this tournament, at least so far. And if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best. He’s really the person to beat here.”
The match between Alcaraz and Djokovic is scheduled in the first rotation at the central Roland-Garros. You will therefore have to be in front of the TV from 2:45 p.m. or follow the match live on our site.
The semi-final will be broadcast on the antennas of Prime Vidéo and France Télévisions.
