Novak Djokovic cruised into his 10th Wimbledon final despite the valiant efforts of his opponent, Lorenzo Musetti who was making his debut in a major semi-final.
I am satisfied and pleased, but I don’t want to stop here – hopefully I’ll get my hands on the trophy (again). Novak Djokovic
It was also the Serbian’s sixth consecutive year in the last two to match the Swedish legend Bjorn Borg and, more impressively, his 37th at slam level but only his first final of 2024!
“I have said it many times, Wimbledon has been a childhood dream for me to play it and to win it,” the seven-time champion said following his 6-4 7-6(2) 6-4 victory.
“It is worth repeating I was a seven-year-old boy watching the bombs fly over my head and dreaming of being on the most important court in the world, which is here in Wimbledon.
“I was constructing Wimbledon trophies out of any material in the room.”
Novak Djokovic certainly orchestrated a great win
(Photo by Shi Tang/Getty Images)
Djokovic, who celebrated his win by impersonating a violinist with his racket, an action he first performed when defeating Holger Rune in the fourth round when he accused the crowd for ‘disrespecting him’, added: “I try not to take it for granted every time I find myself on this unique court. Obviously, during the match it is business time and trying to do your work and I try outplay my opponent.
“I am satisfied and pleased, but I don’t want to stop here – hopefully I’ll get my hands on the trophy (again).”
And he certainly outplayed his Italian opponent to set up a mouth-watering final with last year’s champion Carlos Alcaraz, a four-set winner over Daniil Medvedev earlier in the day.
The 25th seed, Musetti, battled hard but was unable to make an impression on last year’s finalist who is out to avenge that loss to the young Spaniard from Murcia.
Djokovic, still wearing that knee support on his right leg following knee surgery three weeks before The Championships, basically powered his way past the 22-year-old Italian over two-hours and 48-minutes.
While there were doubts about Djokovic’s fitness when he first arrived at the All England Club, they have been firmly squashed during the Fortnight.
In contrast Musetti arrived with some great grass court credentials gained during his run-up to The Championships reaching the semis at Stuttgart and the final at Queen’s so his appearance in the semis at Wimbledon didn’t come as a real surprise.
The opening set contained no fewer than three breaks of serve as both players struggled to find their rhythm early on, whilst looking for weak spots in their opponent’s game.
And it was the 37-year-old who struck first when he took advantage of two of four chances which came his way to pocket the first set.
The second was a much tighter affair with Musetti breaking in the first game striking a great backhand down the line following a excellent exchange between the pair which he backed up to take a 3-1 lead.
However, as in the opening set, Djokovic struck in the sixth game to level and managed to stave off a Musetti attack in the tenth with three consecutive aces as the set rolled into a tiebreak where the Italian was swept aside for just two points.
An early break of serve for Djokovic followed in the third set as a frustrated Musetti fell further behind, struggling to get back into the match.
On this performance, however, Djokovic will have to further raise his level against Alcaraz to avenge last year’s final defeat.
But he will be aiming to seal an eighth Wimbledon crown to match Roger Federer’s record and improve on his own incredible record of 24 grand slam titles but Alcaraz will no doubt, have something to say about that!
Lorenzo Musetti was left frustrated by the former champion
(Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
