- Novak Djokovic and Milos Raonic will meet in the finals of Western and Southern Open.
- The Serb defeated Roberto Bautista Agut after three sets and three hours of play.
- Raonic eliminated Stefanos Tsitsipas with 2-0.
Djokovic’s Struggles and a Fantastic Comeback
The Serb was on the verge of a loss. But like so many times before in his career, the Joker bounced back, fighting all the adversities before winning. After more than three hours of play, he eliminated Roberto Bautista-Agut with 2-1 in sets, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6.
Though, the Serb admitted that he shouldn’t win this event and that his rival was a better player this Friday evening.
“[It was a] very strange match, I must say. I don’t know how I won it, to be honest. He was the better player,” Djokovic said. “I just didn’t feel good on the court at all, in any aspect of my game and of the body. But somehow, I managed to pull this one through.”
The world No.1 struggled with his neck injury, and had stomach problems, stopping the match three times to receive medical attention. Eventually, he would make a comeback, which was sealed with a fantastic tie-break performance. Novak won all seven points, smashing the Spaniard, who didn’t know what hit him.
Raonic’s Confident Performance
Milos Raonic didn’t have any problems with beating Stefanos Tsitsipas, even though he entered this one as an underdog. The final result was 2-0, 7-6, 6-3.
Just to remind all that the Canadian entered the tournament as an unseeded player, and that this is his first ATP Masters finals after almost four and a half years.
“I’m feeling good about my tennis,” said Milos. “I took the time to train, to try to do things right, to get myself to a stage I haven’t been before with my tennis, with my health.”
His first serve was almost perfect, with 35 points won out of 39 attempts. Tsitsipas defied in the first set, taking it to the tie-break, but once he lost the pace in the second, there was no coming back for him.
Raonic is 0-3 in the ATP Masters finals, and is 0-10 against Novak. Two of those defeats came in Paris’ and Indian Wells’ finale in 2014 and 2016.
Like so many times before, Novak is the absolute favorite coming into this event. Still, the Serb’s troubles with injuries might give some chances to Raonic, who performed better than his future opponent.
Novak and the Canadians Changing Tennis
Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil started an initiative that would see the players forming their union, the same as all US sports players have.
The two sent emails to all of the players on the tour asking for their support in creating the Professional Tennis Players Association. This organization would be completely independent and wouldn’t have any ties with the ATP Tour.
The first one who publicly supported this idea was none other than Raonic, who was trying to make a difference in the relationship between the ATP and the players for a long time.
