Rome (AFP)
Novak Djokovic, irregular and unable to contain a few new gestures of annoyance, struggled on Saturday against the German Dominik Koepfer (6-3, 4-6, 6-3) to reach the semi-finals of the Masters 1000 in Rome.
The world No. 1 will face the Norwegian Casper Ruud on Sunday, an opponent he has never met.
Two weeks after his disqualification at the US Open for a gesture of humor, the Serbian could not contain his annoyance on a few occasions, notably throwing his racket in the second set after a lost service game or releasing a few cries of anger in the silence of the central court of Foro Italico.
"Let me tell you that this is not the first, nor the last racket that I will break in my career," he replied at a press conference about this episode.
"I've done this before, I'll probably do it again. It's not something I want to do, but when it happens, it happens ... It's obviously not the best message, especially for the young players watching me, I obviously do not encourage that, "continued the world No. 1, who had been disqualified from the US Open for having inadvertently thrown a ball at a linesman in a gesture of mood .
"We are human beings, we do our best, and working on my emotions has always been part of my training," he said.
By conceding his service four times in total, Djokovic was drawn into an uncertain and complicated match of more than 2 hours by Koepfer, the 97th player in the world, from qualifying.
"Well done for him to come back, but it's my fault that I put myself in a position to have to play a third set," said Djokovic.
A little more than a week before Roland-Garros, Djokovic is looking for a fifth crown in Rome.
The meeting against Ruud on Sunday will take place in front of 1,000 spectators, a gauge finally authorized by the Italian authorities for the last two days of the tournament (semi-finals on Sunday and finals on Monday).
© 2020 AFP