Novak Djokovic n'est pas le roi de Wimbledon pour rien... Grand favori de cette édition 2023, le Serbe a réalisé le match parfait ce vendredi contre Jannik Sinner. Alors qu'il avait dû batailler pour dominer l'Italien en cinq sets sur le même court l'année dernière, cette fois, il n'y a eu aucun suspense. Impérial, Nole s'est imposé en trois sets, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(4). Qualifié pour sa 9e finale à Wimbledon et sa 35e en Grand Chelem, Djokovic pourrait égaliser le record de Roger Federer avec un 8e sacre à Londres et prendre deux unités d'avance sur Rafael Nadal avec un 24e Majeur. De plus, en battant Carlos Alcaraz dimanche, il récupérerait le trône de l'Espagnol.
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00:00 Well, it was a well-fought straight set victory. Each set was closer than it appears maybe
00:11 on the scoreboard. And I knew that he is going to try to be aggressive and hit from both
00:19 forehand and backhand quite flat and fast. And so I needed to be really sharp from the
00:24 beginning, which I think I have. And I think that I found the right shots at the right
00:33 time. Serve was kind of going up and down. But I managed to make him play always an extra
00:39 shot, especially towards the end of the match. And yeah, he basically made some on first
00:47 there to give me the victory in the tiebreak and also when he was two set points up in
00:52 the third. But that's tennis, obviously, in that pressure point moments. It's not easy
01:00 always to play the shots that you desire. And so it was, of course, great for me that
01:08 I was able to finish the job in straight sets.
01:11 What's it been like to go through this tournament and get to this final? It's as the first time
01:23 that you're not in the Grand Slam race anymore, that you're atop the Grand Slam race. That's
01:28 not your primary focus, as it has been the last couple of years. Has it been different
01:33 mentally as you brought in other motivations? What is going through your mind? What has
01:38 taken up that space now that that thing isn't in your mind?
01:40 To be honest with you, I don't feel much difference. Ambition is always the highest for me, always
01:50 to win the title. So it's not changing regardless of the place in history, history books. Maybe
02:02 some people think that it would be a huge relief for me winning Roland Garros and being
02:08 the only men's tennis player with 23 slams. But it's not. Pressure is there. It's still
02:16 very high. I still feel goosebumps and butterflies and nerves coming into every single match.
02:26 So I'm going to be coming into the Sunday's final like it's my first, to be honest. I
02:32 don't want to approach that finals in any more relaxed way than I have previous ones,
02:44 meaning the intention needs to be clear and goal and approach will be as serious and professional
02:51 as it has been always. So not much difference for me there.
02:55 Do you think experience is as important as today's match against Carlos?
03:13 Well I can speak on my own behalf in my matches. I obviously have more experience than most
03:22 of these guys that I faced here and that I will face on Sunday as well. But experience
03:32 could help a little bit I think in maybe some important moments or beginning the match,
03:39 managing the nerves, managing the occasion, circumstances. That's where experience could
03:46 play a role. But it's not going to be the deciding factor really. It's not going to
03:51 affect that much on the game itself. So whoever on a given day is in a better state mentally
04:00 and physically will be the winner.
04:02 What are the feelings you experience in the moment when you win a major championship?
04:12 Huge relief, obviously incredible joy, satisfaction, pride. It's kind of mixed feelings because
04:21 Grand Slam is paramount of the pressure levels that you can experience as any other tournament.
04:31 You can't compare it to any other tournament actually. It's an incredible amount of dedication
04:38 from a player to stay in the tournament and go all the way. So yeah, it's a huge relief
04:46 just to finish the tournament but to finish it with a title obviously is something that
04:51 128 players in the draw want to achieve. It's an ultimate showdown. Everything comes down
05:00 to one match. All eyes of the tennis and sports world will be directed on the Sunday Wimbledon
05:08 final. It's probably the most watched tennis match globally. I look forward to it.
05:15 You have won the last six of the eight Grand Slams you have played in. How do you manage
05:28 to stay so strong for so long on all surfaces and against all players and even if the new
05:40 generation?
05:42 Well, it's no secret that Grand Slams are the highest priority for me, the highest goals
05:51 on my priority list. Every time I start a season, I want to peak at these four tournaments
05:59 and I try to organize my training schedule and my preparation weeks and all the tournaments
06:08 according to these priorities. All the tournaments that I play are basically leading me up to
06:16 Grand Slam and I'm really glad that this year, or actually the last several years, my Grand
06:24 Slam seasons are amazing. The results are fantastic. I have a good team of people around
06:33 me and we do things in a proper way on a daily basis and I think that gives us benefits when
06:40 we get to the later stages of a Grand Slam. Most of the players are probably exhausted
06:48 a bit physically and mentally and maybe they don't feel like they can go a step further.
06:58 For me, I feel that the job is not finished until I lift the trophy and hopefully play
07:07 in the finals of a Grand Slam. I put myself again in that position and of course I'm very
07:13 thrilled.
07:14 On the hindrance call, it's obviously a pretty unusual thing to happen, especially in a Grand
07:24 Slam semi-final. Have you had a chance to watch it back? What is your opinion now on
07:32 the call?
07:33 First of all, I have to accept the decision from the chair umpire. It was quite a close
07:41 call I must say. It has never happened to me. I've never had a hindrance call for an
07:48 extended grant. I saw the replay and I saw that my grant finished before he hit the shot.
07:57 I thought that chair umpire's call was not correct in my opinion. Again, you have to
08:06 accept it.
08:07 You won another tie-break. Why are you so strong in tie-break or why are your opponents
08:19 losing?
08:20 Why not? I'm aware of the tie-break streak and I think the longer the streak goes, the
08:30 mentally more resilient or tougher I am in this particular situation. Coming into every
08:38 tie-break now, I feel more comfortable than my opponents. I think my opponents also know
08:46 about that record so that mentally makes a difference. I was down 3-1 in the tie-break.
08:54 He really gifted me the point with the double fault and I was back in the tie-break. It
08:59 could have been 4-1 for him and who knows what kind of direction the tie-break would
09:04 go into.
09:05 Tie-break is such a gamble because one or two points can really decide the whole course
09:17 of a tie-break on grass. If you make one double fault or if you miss a first serve and the
09:22 opponent plays a great return and you hold your serve until the end of the tie-break,
09:28 that can be enough. That's why going into tie-breaks on grass is probably even more
09:37 stressful than any other surface because you know that you won't get as many chances to
09:43 be in the rally.
09:49 He didn't play such a great last three or four points. I made mistakes. I was just trying
09:53 to stay in the point and make him play an extra shot. It was enough.
09:59 There were quite a few disturbances from the crowd towards the end of the second set. You
10:11 seemed to be reacting to that as you came back from 15-40. Can you talk us through your
10:16 emotions and feelings towards the crowd?
10:19 It's all love. All love and acceptance.
10:23 Mike Dixon, the Mail. On that game, when you had the hindrance which is, as you said, very
10:33 unusual for you to have to deal with, and then the time violation came almost immediately
10:38 afterwards, I'm just wondering what was going through your head at the time. Were you having
10:42 to concentrate on holding, not erupting?
10:50 I had to try very hard to... Exactly. That's exactly right. I was just trying to hold my
11:00 things mentally together, not really get upset even though I was really upset because I didn't
11:07 think it was the right call. I could have gone over. Probably I didn't see the time
11:15 clock I could have gone over. You can argue and say, "Well, if you went over, even if
11:22 it's the first time, you should get a time violation." Which is okay. It's by the rules.
11:29 But at the same time, if it's the first time that it happens, it happens in a game where
11:33 you already gave me a hindrance, where it's a close game, rallies. In these particular
11:40 situations, I feel like Jay Umpire should just recognise the moment a little bit more.
11:47 But again, it was a very stressful game for me to survive and to storm through. It was
11:54 super important because if he made the break, he was very close, he had a break point, who
11:59 knows what would happen from that moment onwards. But luckily for me, I just stayed calm.
12:05 Did Alcara's win? Yes.
12:18 This is probably the most anticipated finals, I guess, from the beginning of the tournament.
12:28 Most of the people, Alcara is myself, and it will be his first finals in Wimbledon.
12:34 He's so young, but he's incredibly consistent now. Also, Ongrass, which I think many people
12:41 expected him to play so well because his game is basically built and constructed and developed
12:52 for clay mostly or slower hardcourts. But he's been incredibly successful in adapting
12:59 to the surfaces and demands and challenges of the opponents on a given day. I see this
13:09 as a great trait, as a great virtue because I actually see this as one of my biggest strengths
13:15 throughout my career that I was able to constantly develop, adapt and adjust my game depending
13:23 on the challenges, basically. So that's what he's doing very early on in his career.
13:28 So kudos to him, amazing player, great guy also of the court. He carries himself very,
13:35 very well. He respects the history of the sport, respects everyone, so no bad words
13:41 about him at all, and his team, his family. I've seen him play in Queens a little bit
13:47 and here he's been very impressive. I think he already developed a very accurate game
13:55 Ongrass. So I think judging by the performances that we've seen from all the players, I think
14:04 this is probably the best finals that we could have. We are both in good form. We're both
14:09 playing well. We both, I guess, want to take this title without a doubt. I look forward
14:19 to it. It's going to be a great challenge, I think the greatest challenge probably that
14:23 I can have at the moment from any angle, really. Physical, mental, emotional. He's one of the
14:32 quickest guys on the tour and he can do pretty much anything on the court. I consider myself
14:39 also a very complete player. We had a very good match until he started struggling physically
14:48 in Paris. I think we really took the level of tennis to very high and I think it was
14:55 great for the audience and great for us players to be part of that. Obviously, completely
15:01 different conditions here. Grass is massively different from clay. Yes, I do have more experience
15:10 playing in many more Grand Slam or Wimbledon finals than him, but still he's in great shape.
15:17 He's very motivated. He's young. He's hungry. I'm hungry too, so let's have a feast.
15:22 (laughing)