Tennis star Novak Djokovic struggled to reach the final of the Masters 1000 tournament in Paris-Bercy. The 24-time Grand Slam tournament winner from Serbia won his semi-final match against Russia’s Andrei Rublev 5:7, 7:6 (7:3), 7:5.
“Rublev suffocated me like a snake choked a frog,” said Djokovic afterwards about the very powerful Russian: “For large parts of the match he played at an extremely high level.” The 36-year-old himself struggled with his fitness at the start of the match, but then he “fought his way into it”.
Djokovic will face Grigor Dimitrow in the final on Sunday. The Bulgarian had previously won 6:3, 6:7 (1:7), 7:6 (7:3) against Stefanos Tsitsipas from Greece. Tsitsipas had thrown German Olympic champion Alexander Zverev out of the tournament in the round of 16.
