Resilient Djokovic Survives del Potro in Instant Classic in 2013 Wimbledon Semis

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: July 5, 2013

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Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin del Potro’s Wimbledon semifinal was supposed to be the warm-up act, but the two Grand Slam champions ended up stealing the show.

Their epic match, which saw world No. 1 Djokovic prevail 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, was the longest semifinal in the storied history of Wimbledon. It lasted a jaw-dropping four hours and 43 minutes.

He moves on to face Andy Murray, and a likely partisan London crowd, in the final on Sunday.

Unlike most long matches, there were no lulls or dips in play in Djokovic-Del Potro. It was physical, top-notch, standing-ovation-producing tennis from start to finish. There were 64 rallies of over nine shots, an absolutely unheard-of statistic on the grass courts that encourage strike-first tennis.



It was a see-saw affair from first strike to last. Djokovic stepped up at the end of the first set to take it, and then del Potro seized his chance in the middle of the second to even things up. During the rare occasions that either man took his eye off the prize for a second, the other was there to pounce.

The third set alone lasted 69 minutes, or the approximate time of the Marion Bartoli vs. Kirsten Flipkens semifinal. 

Djokovic's backhand down-the-line shot that is usually his bread and butter was struggling, mainly due to the power and precision of del Potro. At times it seemed like Djokovic was hitting tennis balls across the net and del Potro was returning bullets. 



Each guy had his back against the wall at different points in the match but kept digging deep and coming up with greatness on top of greatness to keep the match going. Djokovic went up a break in the fourth, but del Potro took it right back. Djokovic had two match points in the fourth-set tiebreak; del Potro saved them with absolute magic.

It took until midway through the fifth set for Djokovic to get the break he would ne...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis

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