Advancing to a significant semi-final is nice. Dealing with Novak Djokovic once you get there, nevertheless, will not be perfect.
Of all Djokovic’s accomplishments in recent times, one of the vital unfathomable may be his file within the semi-finals of Grand Slam tournaments. That’s unhealthy information for his subsequent opponent, Ben Shelton.
Djokovic has gained 21 of his previous 22 main semi-finals courting again to the 2015 Australian Open. His solely loss throughout that stretch got here in 2019 at Roland Garros, the place Dominic Thiem wanted 5 units over 4 hours and 13 minutes to get rid of the Serbian.
9 of the gamers Djokovic has defeated in main semi-finals have been contained in the High 5 within the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. Ten of his victories in the course of the stretch have are available straight units.
By defeating Taylor Fritz within the US Open quarter-finals, he superior to a file forty seventh main semi-final. In his earlier 46 appearances this deep at a Grand Slam occasion, Djokovic has tallied a 35-11 file (76.1%).
Most Main SFs
*Performs file forty seventh main semi-final Friday
In keeping with Infosys ATP Stats, solely 12 gamers on file have a 76 per cent or higher profitable share that top in all matches, not to mention main quarter-finals. Of Djokovic’s 11 losses, eight have come in opposition to Roger Federer (4) or Rafael Nadal (4).
His opponent on Friday, Shelton, has one of many greatest serves on the ATP Tour. However pushing units to tie-breaks at this stage of a Slam has statistically not labored out for Djokovic’s opponents over the previous decade.
The 36-year-old has not misplaced a tie-break in a significant semi-final for the reason that 2014 US Open, the place he misplaced to Kei Nishikori. Within the seven tie-breaks Djokovic has performed in main semi-finals since, he has misplaced a mixed 24 factors, or simply greater than three factors per tie-break. That features 9 factors he misplaced in a single tie-break in opposition to Nadal at Wimbledon in 2018.
Djokovic has misplaced simply twice within the final 4 of Grand Slam occasions in opposition to first-time main semi-finalists — his defeat to Nishikori at Flushing Meadows 9 years in the past and the 2010 Wimbledon semi-finals to Tomas Berdych.