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Novak Djokovic fought off a spirited comeback from Holger Rune to reach the Paris Masters semi-finals for a ninth time, but he once had the crowd on his back.
Much like during his three-set victory over Tallon Griekspoort in the third round, Djokovic had to deal with booing from fans at Paris-Bercy and much like during his previous match he regained his composure to “feed off that energy”.
In the end he came away with a 7-5, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4 victory and during the post-match celebrations he copied England and Real Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham’s famous outstretched arms goal celebration.
Asked about the booing after the match, the six-time Paris champion said: “Sometimes you just have to stay calm and focus on what needs to be done in the next point. Actually most of the time that is probably the best thing you can do.
“But sometimes you react, you feed off that energy.”
Djokovic 🤝 Bellingham@DjokerNole @BellinghamJude pic.twitter.com/bZIqIYjTl6
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) November 3, 2023
In a rematch of the 2022 final that was won by Rune, Djokovic broke late in the first set and then had a match point in game 10 of the second set. The Dane, though, held firm and edged the tie-breaker, which Djokovic described as his “worst one of this year”.
“It was quite a similar match to last year’s final, it was any body’s game in every set,” Djokovic said.
“I played an awful tie-break in the second set, probably the worst one this year. But again credit to him for staying mentally tough and playing solid. We have similar games. Move well, defend well and all-round players.”
A break in game three of the decider set Djokovic on his way to yet another semi-final, but he admitted it was weird to see his former coach Boris Becker in Rune’s player box.
Becker, who was part of Djokovic’s coaching set-up for three years, started working with Rune last month.
“He has been playing much better in the past few weeks since working with Boris,” the 24-time Grand Slam winner said. “It was strange seeing Boris in the opposing box, but I knew it might happen this week and I wish Holger and him all the best in Turin.”
Djokovic will face Andrey Rublev for a place in the final after the fifth seed defeated Alex de Minaur 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 while Grigor Dimitrov and Stefanos Tsitsipas will contest the other semi-final.
READ MORE: ‘Novak Djokovic looks like he could play for another 20 years’, says tennis legend
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