{"id":411137,"date":"2024-07-10T20:26:51","date_gmt":"2024-07-10T20:26:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=411137"},"modified":"2024-07-10T22:05:59","modified_gmt":"2024-07-10T22:05:59","slug":"underdog-books-djokovic-showdown-with-epic-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=411137","title":{"rendered":"Underdog books Djokovic showdown with epic victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lorenzo Musetti threw his head back and spread his arms wide to celebrate reaching his first grand slam semi final at Wimbledon<\/a>, then covered his face with both hands.<\/p>\n

His 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 victory over Taylor Fritz was a big deal, to be sure. After all, the 25th-seeded Musetti, a 22-year-old from Italy, never had made it past the third round at the All England Club \u2014 or past the fourth round at any major tournament \u2014 until this fortnight.<\/p>\n

Now, though, comes a far tougher test: taking on Novak Djokovic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Watch Wimbledon 2024 live and exclusively free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>. Plus centre court in 4K UHD on<\/strong><\/em> Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, the home of grand slam tennis.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHe probably knows, better than me, the surface and the stadium, for sure,\u201d Musetti said with a chuckle, aware he\u2019ll be making his Centre Court debut on Saturday. \u201cJokes apart, he\u2019s a legend everywhere, but especially here in Wimbledon.\u201d<\/p>\n

This will be Djokovic's record-tying 13th semi final at Wimbledon alone \u2014 equaling Roger Federer \u2014 and 49th slam semi final overall, extending a mark he already held. As Musetti pursues his first major championship, Djokovic seeks a 25th, including what would be an eighth at the All England Club.<\/p>\n

\"Lorenzo<\/p>\n

Djokovic's smooth trip through this year\u2019s bracket was made even easier when the man he was supposed to play in the quarter finals Wednesday, Alex de Minaur, pulled out with a hip injury hours before their match was scheduled to begin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Musetti was forced to work for his spot in the final four: His three and a half-hour victory over the 13th-seeded Fritz was the 37th five-setter at the All England Club this year, the most at any grand slam tournament.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Shattered de Minaur pulls out of Wimbledon quarters<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Disgraced NRL bad boy's declaration after boxing win<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Hornby whacks 'disrespectful' Bennett claims<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Musetti acknowledged he didn\u2019t get off to an ideal start, in part because of nerves. But an early break in the second set helped alter the course of the evening.<\/p>\n

\u201cImmediately, I changed my mind. I changed my attitude,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd that probably made the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

Musetti's son, Ludovico, was born in March, and he said that helped him rededicate himself to his sport and strive to no longer \u201cthrow away matches".<\/p>\n

\"Taylor<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of me teaching him, he\u2019s teaching me. \u2026 Having a child makes you reflect a lot,\u201d Musetti said. \u201cI feel more mature on the court, more mature off the court, and more mature as a player, as a father, as a person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Playing at a sun-swathed No.1 Court against Fritz, an American who is one of the sport's biggest servers but fell to 0-4 in major quarter finals, Musetti managed to accumulate 13 break points and convert six.<\/p>\n

With Queen Camilla, the wife of King Charles III, in the stands and joining fans in doing the wave, Musetti did far more to vary his strokes \u2014 a drop shot here, a lob there, plenty of slices \u2014 than Fritz did.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just felt like it took a lot to finish the point,\u201d Fritz said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lorenzo Musetti threw his head back and spread his arms wide to celebrate reaching his first grand slam semi final at Wimbledon, then covered his […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":411144,"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\/411137"}],"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=411137"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":411149,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411137\/revisions\/411149"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/411144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=411137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=411137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=411137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}