Novak Djokovic outclassed Denis Shapovalov in a hard-fought three-set win on Centre Court in the Wimbledon 2021 men’s singles semi-final on Friday. The world number 1 was playing in his 41st Grand Slam semi-final. He defeated Canadian 10th seed Shapovalov 7-6, 7-5, 7-5 to go to his ninth All-England Club final, where he will face Italian Matteo Berrettini on Sunday.
Djokovic has won The Championship five times before, and if he defends his title on July 11, he would tie Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for the most Grand Slam victories with 20. The victory improved Djokovic’s head-to-head record against Shapovalov to 7-0. Djokovic, the reigning Australian Open and Roland Garros champion, will compete at Wimbledon for the third time in a row.
On Friday, the Serbian was not at his best, and Denis Shapovalov showed flashes of brilliance throughout the two-hour-and-44-minute encounter. Shapovalov appeared to be threatening Djokovic’s pristine Grand Slam record this season at times, but the Serb taught the young southpaw a lesson in stepping up when it mattered most.
Shapovalov broke Djokovic’s serve to start the semi-final and was serving for the first set but was unable to close out the set. Shapovalov, who was playing his first Grand Slam singles semi-final, failed to pick up a single point of his serve in the first set, which proceeded to a tie-breaker. The Canadian would not budge and maintained his aggressive demeanour. In the Serb’s service games, he was smashing single-handed backhands and making Djokovic work hard.
Djokovic, on the other hand, showed his class by breaking Shapovalov in the pivotal final game. The third set followed a similar trend, with Djokovic being forced to sprint about until finally holding his first service game. Djokovic, on the other hand, kept up with Shapovalov and vexed the Canadian, who made 36 unforced errors to the World No. 1’s 15. And it was those that made the difference between pushing Djokovic to the 4th and possibly 5th set and succumbing to a straight-set loss.
