Novak Djokovic produced a masterful display to defeat Alexander Zverev and move within two wins of a 25th Grand Slam title.
Last year’s finalist Zverev took the first set but Djokovic worked his way into the match, meticulously breaking down his opponent’s gameplan to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.
The 38-year-old is a fading force, there is no denying it. In regular tour events, he has been pretty awful for the last 12 months. But his powers are not extinguished, merely dormant, and at the big events his force awakens.
Djokovic is unbeaten at the French Open since 2022 – he won the title in 2023 and withdrew before his quarter-final last year with meniscus damage. Including his victory in the Paris Olympics, he was on a 16-match winning streak at this venue.
On the hard courts, he is more vulnerable than ever to opponents who are faster, younger and more powerful. But on the natural surfaces of clay and grass his more subtle skills can predominate.
At the age of 38, he knew he could no longer outrun Zverev, so he out-thought him instead.
Novak Djokovic moved to two wins of a 25th Grand Slam title by beating Alexander Zverev
Djokovic lost the opening set to Zverev but outfought his rival to fight back to triumph
Djokovic is a fading force at 38, but the Serbian is on 16-match winning streak at this venue
‘My way of playing is based on running but at my age its not so easy to run so much,’ he said. ‘I tried to impose my rhythm with one or two drop shots.
‘Tonight is one of those reasons why I still keep playing.’
For world No3 Zverev, this will have done nothing to dispel the accusations that he is too passive to win the big titles. While Djokovic played like an ageing Tiger Woods plotting his way around Augusta, Zverev was taking irons off the tee.
The German, for all his massive serve and easy power, is a strangely passive player. He is happiest setting up camp a couple of yards behind the baseline and plugging away with his sublime backhand and more middling forehand.
Djokovic, of course, is a natural counter-puncher himself, so the expectation for this match was for a marathon of baseline grinding.
Instead, Djokovic got out his scalpel and dissected the Zverev game. He looked into his opponent’s brain and snapped the synapses.
He would begin the rallies patiently: no risks, just a few easy balls to soften his opponent up. Then he would throw in a slice backhand, a drop shot – he hit 36 of those – a serve-and-volley. When he approached the net, he would often angle his approach shorter in the court, forcing the deep-lying Zverev to stoop low to pick the ball up.
The greatest returner of all time also increasingly began to read the Zverev serve. In the first game of the match the German broke, then rode that advantage to win the second set, taking 94 per cent of points behind his first serve. In the second that dropped to 70 per cent, to 65 per cent in the third and 76 per cent in the fourth.
The result was an abject failur for Alexander Zverev as he still looks for his first Grand Slam
Zverev represented Djokovic’s first real test but will face a huge step up against Jannik Sinner
As Djokovic took control, the match was summed up by a sublime, 41 shot rally when Zverev had a break point at 3-2 down in the fourth set. Djokovic ran him all over the court, hitting two drop shots, two lobs and finally a passing shot.
He needed five match points, but drop shot No36 finally killed Zverev off.
As much as this was a triumph for Djokovic, it was an abject failure for Zverev. His gameplan is basically: hope his opponents overhit and hand it to him; if not, he hopes to grind them down – that’s an awful lot of hoping and not much doing.
So often in this match he found himself inside the baseline, going after a shorter ball. Here was a chance to attack, to rip that beautiful backhand and approach the net. But what if I miss the backhand? What if my opponent hits a passing shot? Better just head back behind the baseline – it’s safe there.
Enough with Zverev. Djokovic has passed his first real test of this tournament and now comes another huge step up against world No1 Jannik Sinner. The Italian has won their last three meetings and looks in sublime touch. Djokovic will likely have to use some of the same tools from this match – the slices, the serve-volley, the drop shots – but Sinner will be a far less passive victim.
If we assume Carlos Alcaraz beats Lorenzo Musetti in Friday’s other semi-final, then to win this title Djokovic will have to become the first man in history to win a Grand Slam by beating the No1, 2 and 3 seeds. It would be his greatest ever achievement, his crowning glory. He is one third of the way there.
