Lorenzo Musetti has been defeated by Novak Djokovic twice in the last two months.
Italy’s sole medal hopeful that remains in the men’s singles draw, Lorenzo Musetti, is putting together a ludicrous campaign in Paris.
With the tall task of facing the reigning Olympic champion and this year’s French Open finalist Alexander Zverev, the Italian took on the task with relative ease.
He played the perfect match in many ways, holding his serve throughout, before turning the screw when needed and breaking the German’s huge serve at the golden opportunity.
After prevailing in straight sets and sending Zverev promptly packing, Musetti now looks forward as he prepares to face Novak Djokovic – a man dead-set on winning the Olympic gold that has so cruelly eluded him.
Why does Lorenzo Musetti fancy his chances against Novak Djokovic?
The Italian has had the misfortune of meeting Djokovic in the latter stages of both recent majors, the French Open and Wimbledon, losing on both occasions.
After being quizzed on his semi-final opponent, Musetti revealed the positive attitude he was entering the match with, despite his two recent defeats to the Serb.
He told Ubitennis: “I just lost to Djokovic, right here, in the fifth set: it was a great fight and I think the long distance of 3 out of 5 was decisive, he is the best of all in terms of experience and management of physical resources in such a tough and tough match.
“The Olympic tournament, on the other hand, is played in the best of three sets and I hope this aspect can help me.”
Had their French Open clash been best of three sets, the Italian would’ve been through, even despite having lost the opener.
His reading of the game has been so impressive, with Taylor Fritz explaining how Musetti nullified his biggest weapon so easily in their quarter-final match-up.
Lorenzo Musetti looks destined to spoil the Novak Djokovic dream
Say it oh so quietly but I suspect Musetti might cause an almighty upset.
While lightning did unfortunately strike twice for the Italian, the Musetti train looks to be travelling at remarkable, mighty I say unstoppable speed.
The two recent defeats were not one-sided by any stretch of the imagination, with their French Open contest going the distance.
Despite Djokovic’s positive fitness update ahead of the Olympics, he was forced to call the trainer on during his quarter-final win over the record-breaking Stefanos Tstitsipas, with his knee injury looking like it’s bothering him once again.
Tennis is of course all about small margins and with Musetti looking extremely energised, I think he is in perfect position to pull off the impossible.
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