{"id":305899,"date":"2023-06-09T03:50:35","date_gmt":"2023-06-09T03:50:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=305899"},"modified":"2023-06-09T04:58:14","modified_gmt":"2023-06-09T04:58:14","slug":"weight-of-history-as-warrior-meets-magician","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=305899","title":{"rendered":"'Weight of history' as warrior meets magician"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian tennis great Wally Masur is tipping Carlos Alcaraz to beat Novak Djokovic "by a whisker" in Friday night's (AEST) semi-final clash of the tennis titans at Roland-Garros.<\/a><\/p>\n

The only previous instance of Alcaraz vs Djokovic<\/a> came on May 7, 2022, on red clay at the Madrid Open.<\/p>\n

Alcaraz, now 20, had eliminated his idol Rafael Nadal in the previous round, and his 6-7, 7-5, 7-6 victory over Djokovic made the Spaniard the first player to beat those two rock stars of the sport at the same clay tournament.<\/p>\n

\ufeffWatch Roland-Garros 2023 from May 28. Every match ad free and on demand.<\/strong><\/em> Centre court coverage in 4K UHD on Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Novak<\/p>\n

The tennis world already knew about Alcaraz, but that truly announced his arrival.<\/p>\n

He would go on to win his first grand slam title at the US Open in September and become the first teenager to finish a season at No.1 in the rankings.<\/p>\n

Alcaraz stormed into the semis with a \ufeff6-2, 6-1, 7-6 romp over fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas while Serbian Djokovic was made to work a little harder in a 4-6, 7-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory over the 11th seed Karen Khachanov.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Aussies tear through India in historic collapse<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Freddy rips Maroons star's call after Koroisau hit<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Queensland star points finger at media over ball-carrying style<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportAU\/status\/1666991615557369856?s=20<\/a><\/p>\n

"Carlos is still improving as a player," Masur said on Stan Sport's Grand Slam Daily<\/em>.<\/p>\n

"It's hard to believe, isn't it? He'll be a better player in four years time. If I had just been beamed down from Mars right now and just saw these two players, I would say Alcaraz's tennis is better right now.<\/p>\n

"But having witnessed Novak over the last two decades, in everything that he's achieved and the character that he is, it doesn't matter the adversity, the opponent, it doesn't matter the injury, it doesn't matter what's going on. He's a winner and he's going to show us something I believe."<\/p>\n

Watch Roland-Garros 2023 live and free on<\/strong><\/em> 9now<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Djokovic<\/p>\n

But while Masur believed Djokovic, 36, would push Alcaraz to the limit he gave a slight edge to the younger man.<\/p>\n

"Fifty-one per cent Alcaraz, 49 per cent Novak. It's that close. By a nose, a whisker," Masur said.<\/p>\n

"Alcaraz is just right on top. He's playing very creatively, he takes chances. He's got a lot of imagination and he's executing perfectly. He's young, he's fit, he's vibrant, there are no injuries at present. It's the beautiful game that he plays… Novak is a little bit at the other end of the spectrum in that respect. He's been beaten up over a lot of years."<\/p>\n

\"Alcaraz<\/p>\n

But Djokovic is still very much a star of the present.<\/p>\n

His championship at the Australian Open in January was his 10th in a span of 19 majors (Nadal collected six of those, three other players took one apiece, including Alcaraz).<\/p>\n

Djokovic owns 22 grand slam titles, tied with Nadal for the most in the history of men's tennis.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportAU\/status\/1667003590135644167?s=20<\/a><\/p>\n

This will mark Djokovic's 45th appearance in a major semi-final and Alcaraz's second.<\/p>\n

"Carlos is out there showing the world what he can do, he's excited," Masur said.<\/p>\n

"For Novak, the weight of history's on his shoulders – one more grand slam to win and he's the greatest player of all time. He's got a winning record against both Nadal and (Roger) Federer, the two greatest protagonists of his time and he'll have more grand slams if he can get to 23, that in my book would make him the greatest player of all time.<\/p>\n

\"Edgy<\/p>\n

"We don't give style points. If we did, Roger would be elevated because he certainly was one of the great shot-makers… Novak is an absolute beast on the tennis court.<\/p>\n

"Time is catching up… every injury leaves a little bit of scar tissue and a little bit of residual pain, potentially. This man has been a warrior on all surfaces and when you look at the way he plays, it's so energetic.<\/p>\n

"He's not the power packed server of a (Pete) Sampras, for example, he relies on energy and effort as much as skill."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australian tennis great Wally Masur is tipping Carlos Alcaraz to beat Novak Djokovic "by a whisker" in Friday night's (AEST) semi-final clash of the tennis […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":305901,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305899"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=305899"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":305904,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305899\/revisions\/305904"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/305901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=305899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=305899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=305899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}