The curtain has fallen on the 2021 season, so three major trophies will be missing - the Olympic gold medal, the US Open (which would have been synonymous with Grand Slam) and the Silver Bowl - for the Serbian who however broke the record. the number of weeks spent in place of world No. 1 (he will start his 350th on Monday), that of seasons completed at the top of the world hierarchy (7), that of the number of titles in Masters 1000 (37), and equaled the record Grand Slam trophies (20 like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal).
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Figaro
reporter
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On paper, qualification for the Davis Cup final had to be played in the first single, assuming that the world No.1 would win his single for Serbia and that the best pair in the world Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic, Olympic champions in Tokyo, titled at Wimbledon and unbeaten since the start of the competition, would win the double for Croatia.
So the pressure was immense on the shoulders of Croatian Borna Gojo (279th worldwide) and Serbian Dusan Lajovic (33rd).
Fault festival
It was the second who had the most difficulty entering the match. But led 3-4 and 0-40 on the opposing serve, Lajovic won 17 of the next 18 points and won the first set. From there however, in a match studded with unforced errors (44 for Lajovic, 31 for Gojo), the Croatian took the upper hand, making a new victim of choice in this tournament after beating the Australian Alexei Popyrin (61st) in the group stage and the Italian Lorenzo Sonego (27th) in the quarters.
“
I know people look at the rankings and think I have no chance of winning.
But I always play to win, regardless of the opponent.
It was the case against Australia, Italy, and today.
I always put pressure on myself because I know I can play well.
And I'm glad I demonstrated it today,
”commented Gojo.
Therefore Djokovic first of all to bring his team back to equality, a formality a priori against Marin Cilic (ex-3rd today 30th), to then try to win the decisive double, by creating a feat with his teammate Filip Krajinovic , preferred at the last moment to Nikola Cacic who had played the last two doubles with the world No.1.
Irresistible Pavic and Mektic
The first part of the contract was fulfilled with an 18th victory (6-4, 6-2) for the Serbian against the Croatian in 20 games. But Cilic put up a very good resistance to reach 4-4 and 40-0 on his serve in the first set. The Serbian then aligned five points in a row (including a double fault from Cilic on the break point) to get to serve for the set. He actually won this first round in stride, but not without having saved four breaking balls.
After a long game, the world No. 1 made the break in the second set to lead 2-1.
Then he escaped irreparably to win the match and push Croatia to the decisive double.
And as expected, despite strong resistance from the Serbian pair in the first set, the irresistible Pavic and Mektic won 7-5, 6-1, propelling Croatia to the final for the fourth time after 2005, 2016 and 2018. By twice, in 2005 against Slovakia and in 2018 against France, the Croats had won the Silver Bowl.
This year, they will try to face it against the Russia of Daniil Medvedev or Germany without Alexander Zverev, who face each other on Saturday (1:00 p.m.) in the second semi-final.
