He was called a semi-finalist … a blockbuster. Some others spoke of a semi-final that would leave an era in Roland Garros. His “enemies”. Novak Djokovic they expected the age factor to play a role. But Carlos Alcarat’s injury prevented fellow tennis players from seeing the match they dreamed of. The Serbian won 3-1 (6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1), while the Spaniard succumbed to the tennis greatness of his rival. In this case, the merit of the winner … consoled the loser. And indeed, a loser who, despite the injury, played against the best active tennis player in the world and did not want to quit the game. The way the 20-year-old Carlito played in the second set showed that he has what it takes to play a major role in the coming years. Enough for “Djokovic’s computer” to hang up the racket.

Today’s game between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcarat will go through… a critique of criticism. The Serbian won the first set 3-6. But the second belonged to the Spaniard. In the third set, the 20-year-old injured his leg and Djokovic appeared to be playing alone to win 6-1. Despite predictions that he would not continue, the Spaniard again took to the court to the applause of the crowd. But Novak Djokovic cannot be beaten when his opponent plays… with one foot. The Serb’s victory came easily, but certainly not the kind of victory that he will be proud of when he hangs up his racket. However, in sports, the result is important, and today’s result brought the 36-year-old football player to the 34th Grand Slam final of his life.

Trophy box full of titles

On Sunday in Paris, Novak Djokovic will win his 23rd Grand Slam title. If he manages to achieve this, he will leave Radu Nadal behind. Both tennis players have 22 trophies in their collection. An athlete who puts 23 trophies in his collection will set an impressive record that will be difficult to beat. Of course, Nole could have been successful had he not been opposed to the Covid 19 vaccination, which forced him to miss Australian and American events.

The Roland Garros final this year will be the Serb’s 34th career final. In total 11 times he took second place. The last title he won in the French capital was in 2021 when he defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas.

The victory in the Roland Garros final will have another feature for Nole: he will again return to the position No. 1 in the world. Novak Djokovic is the tennis player who has spent the most weeks at number one in the world as he has a streak of 387 weeks. He is followed by Roger Federer with 310 and Pete Sampras with 286.

The Serb added his first major title to the treasury in 2008. He was 20 years old when he won the Australian Open trophy. Since then, many distinctions have followed until it climbed to #1 in the world in 2011. He will try to reclaim that first place on Sunday by winning the Bodyguard Cup.