• Very close to the precipice against the young Jannick Sinner, Novak Djokovic came back from a disbursement of two sets to win his 26th match in a row on Tuesday at Wimbledon.

  • The Serb granted himself a bathroom break before the third set, which changed the face of this quarter-final.

  • Djoko is accustomed to the fact.

    Another specialist, Stefanos Tsitsipas, paid the price last year in the Roland-Garros final.

When you think "tennis" and "toilet break" (it's rare, but it can happen), the name of Stefanos Tsitsipas is often the first that comes to mind.

The Greek's "piss stop" during the last US Open caused a stir, but they pushed Novak Djokovic's into the shadows.

Before granting himself a passage through the locker room on Tuesday at Wimbledon, when he was led two sets to zero by Jannick Sinner in the quarter-finals, to finally turn the situation around with a whistle (5-7, 2-6, 6- 3, 6-2, 6-2), the Serbian cador had already done the same last year at Roland-Garros.

And rather twice than once, against Lorenzo Musetti in the 8th then… Tsitsipas in the final.

For the same scenario, now repeated seven times since the start of his career: led two sets to one, the world number 1 at the time had ended up triumphing.

“He came back on the court as if he was almost a new player, then dropped the handsome Stefanos.

I don't know what happened there.

I really do not know.

“Before launching a premonitory:” Congratulations to him.

He did well to do that.

»

This Tuesday, Djoko was kind enough to explain what he had done when he joined the opulent bowels of the Central Court, where he remains undefeated since 2013. “There were two matches: in the first two sets, he [Sinner] has been better.

I took a break to go to the bathroom at the end of the second set and I took the opportunity to talk to myself in the mirror, to cheer me up, ”explained the player with 20 Grand Slam titles, including six Wimbledon. .

Play it like Vincent Cassel

Replaying the famous scene of Vincent Cassel in

La Haine

would therefore have been enough to put the 35-year-old Serb back on track, while cutting off the legs of his young Italian opponent, his junior by 14 years, so impressive until then.

“I still think I can come back two sets behind, smiled the Serb.

Maybe it's the experience, the bathroom break, or a combination of the two…”

When you play a tournament where you haven't lost since 2017 – abandonment in the quarter-finals against Tomas Berdych – and you have Djoko's ego, confidence does not evaporate as easily as a ru de Provence in August.

The man who said no to the anti-Covid vaccine (which could make him miss the US Open, after the Australian Open) has an appointment in the semi-finals with the Briton Cameron Norrie.

Suffice to say that he will leave favorite for a 27th victory in a row on the London grass, without necessarily going through the locker room this time.

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  • Sport

  • Tennis

  • Wimbledon

  • Novak Djokovic

  • Stefanos Tsitsipas