Djokovic shakes off the 'Carreño syndrome' and will play against Tsitsipas in the semifinals

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After a disturbing start, which raised concerns about his continuity in the tournament,

beat

4-6, 6-2, 6-3 and 6-4, in three hours and ten minutes and will play on Friday against

his tenth semi-final at Roland Garros.

The world number 1, taciturn during the first set, weakened by physical problems, reacted in time to end the stubborn opposition of a man who sent him to a painful and close nightmare.

Unpolluted until this meeting, little demanded, he ran into an opponent who never lost face to the game and struggled until he was forced to get the best of himself.

Only his outbursts of genius allowed him to carry out the confrontation and maintain the hopes of winning the tournament again, something he already did in 2016, and adding his eighteenth Grand Slam title, in the exciting career he maintains with

and

.

What happened to Djokovic?

Why did he look dull on the court, sad, deprived of his serve?

Was the shadow of Carreño floating again, the nightmare of September 7 in New York, when he was disqualified during the round of 16 match against the Spaniard for giving an involuntary pitch to a linesman in a fit of rage?

Or was it just a physical matter, problems in the shoulder, neck and left arm, where he was treated twice in two breaks, but without requesting extra time for care?

This time Carreño, who was serving 6-5 at the US Open when the bizarre outcome occurred, was able to complete his good work in the first set, where he broke

serve twice

, who finished the set with 40% of first serves.

The Spaniard took advantage and was about to hit another bite to the scoreboard, when he had two new break options in the third game of the second quarter.

A dressing on the neck

Djokovic, who had appeared for the third time in the quarterfinals of the tournament without losing a set, with four titles, the Australian Open, Dubai, Cincinnati and Rome, 35 victories and only one defeat in 2020, the one described, in that way, Before Carreño, he applied a dressing to his neck and tried to rectify, pulling wit and gallons, of what is left over.

His face had lost color, but his tennis was beginning to assimilate to what was expected of him.

Also the body language was different and his reactions, more in line with the viscerality that distinguishes him.

He could be heard yelling, already in a confrontation much more similar than imaginable.

Carreño had done an excellent job, firm in the back of the court, crossing balls backwards to backwards as if he were not facing the best on the planet in that luck, tuning with the parallel.

Before the Flushing Meadows game, Djokovic had won all three against him, two of them on the clay of Monte Carlo.

Eighteenth in the world, the Spaniard entered Paris strong, spurred on by his second US Open semifinal, in which he had a two-set lead against Alexander Zverev.

He is a stony tennis player, difficult to overcome, with hardly any weak points, who over the years has gained mental strength.

He served well and did not collapse before the virulent reaction of Djokovic, who after equalizing a set went 3-0 in the third.

It equaled three and had an option to break in the seventh.

But it was again the Balkan who made better use of his tricks, saved the stake and took the set.

But Carreño was not going to give up.

Nor when he served in the seventh game and was in a limit situation, two games away from defeat.

He fired three bullets to equal four, before a rival who suffered again with the execution of his service.

neutralized them

, forced to do everything until the last ball.

Freed, at last, from the sad

.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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