Roland Garros: Novak Djokovic vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas Preview, Odds, Prediction

Novak Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas are clashing in Roland Garros semis. While Djokovic reached this stage 10 times before, for the young Greek this is the first time to come this deep here in Paris. Having in mind that these two sides had some very interesting battles in the past, we expect to see yet another exciting contest, with lots of fire and energy from both participants. Djokovic might be older and more experienced, but Tsitsipas’ motive and desire to reach the finals could be his advantage.

Preview

Djokovic (-300) is one of the best players of all time, and right now, the best in the whole wide world. However, this is clay, and we often see odd results here. Novak lost the opening set against Pablo Carreno Busta in the quarterfinals, but according to the Serb, he had massive problems with neck and elbow that severely damaged his first serve, which was around 40% during that sequence.

After a medical timeout in the second set, the 17-time Grand Slam champ began playing his usual tennis, and that was about it from Carreno Busta’s chances to make a sensation and enter the top four at French Open. He did show some resistance in the final set, but that didn’t disturb Novak at all.

The Serb is arguably the player with the strongest mentality ever, and once he grabs the lead, you won’t see any comebacks or something like that. 

Joker eliminated Mikael Ymer, Richard Berankis, Daniel Elahi Galan, and Karen Kachanov before the Spaniard, all of them 3-0, allowing no more than three lost games during one set.

Tsitsipas (+230), believe it or not, had the toughest match in the first round he almost lost to Jaume Antoni Munar Clar. The Greek won after a marathon, which saw all five sets, and after him coming back from a 0-2 deficit. 

Once Tsitsipas got over that storm, he would routinely defeat Pablo Cuevas, Aljaz Bedene, Grigor Dimitrov, and Andrey Rublev in the most recent clash. 

It was his revenge for the loss in Hamburg’s finals just before the start of the French Open. He beat Rublev with 7-5, 6-2, 6-3, controlling the match very confidently. When looking at the overall performance Tsitsipas showed on the clay this autumn/summer, we can say that he seems pretty decently on this turf.

Head to Head Matches

Tsitsipas is one of the few players against who Djokovic doesn’t have a positive record. After six clashes, the result is 3-3, with Djokovic beating the rival in the most recent event in Dubai this year, 6-3, 6-4.

This was the same result as in their only meeting on the clay so far, in Madrid Masters 2019. 

Prediction

The odds are on Novak’s side, and they are for a reason. World’s No.1 is looking very good, and if it weren’t for that misfortunate incident in New York, he would probably be chasing his 19th Grand Slam here. The only enigmatic factor is his health status; but according to some information from the Serbian media, Djokovic should be 100% ready for the semis. And that means that betting on anything else besides him would be a nuisance.