Novak Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas meet in the semifinals of the 2020 tennis French Open.
Novak Djokovic is coming off a four sets win over Pablo Carreno-Busta that took 37 games to decide. In the victory, Djokovic won 72 percent of his first serve points and 53 percent of his second serve points. Djokovic won 63 percent of his total service points and converted on six of his 13 break points. Djokovic got 56 percent of his first serves in play and saved 10 of his 13 break points. Djokovic has dropped just one set this tournament, but he has been broken five times in his last two matches, so he’s left the door open at times. Djokovic looks to make his fifth career final appearance at the French Open and first since 2016. Djokovic has won 12 of his last 13 grand slam semifinal matches. Djokovic has won 14 straight matches on clay court.
Stefanos Tsitsipas is coming off a straight sets win over Andrey Rublev that took 29 games to decide. In the victory, Tsitsipas won 80 percent of his first serve points and 61 percent of his second serve points. Tsitsipas won 73 percent of his total service points and converted on five of his eight break points. Tsitsipas got 64 percent of his first serves in play and saved two of his three break points. Tsitsipas has won each of his last four matches in straight sets, and he’s won each of his last 15 sets overall. Tsitsipas looks to make his first grand slam final appearance and the fourth final appearance of the year overall. Tsitsipas looks for his 13th career final appearance, and he’s 0-1 in grand slam semifinal matches, with that lone loss coming in the 2019 Australian Open. Tsitsipas has won nine of his last 10 matches on clay court.
These two have split the previous six matches with Djokovic winning the most recent match this year in Dubai. Three of the six matches went the distance and this will be the first time they meet in a grand slam. Djokovic beat Tsitsipas in the only match on clay, which came in 2019 Madrid.
Djokovic should be the favorite here for obvious reasons, but there’s some value on Tsitsipas. One, Djokovic has looked a little sluggish in his last few matches and could be injured a bit. Djokovic is moving a little sluggish, he’s not getting great lift on his serve and he’s had to push through some of these sets. Tsitsipas is playing the better tennis up to this point and he’s had success against Djokovic, beating him in 50 percent of the meetings. If Djokovic is not at the top of his game, Tsitsipas will make his first career grand slam final appearance.
I’ll take a shot with Tsitsipas and the big plus money.
AUTHOR: Randy Chambers
