Novak Djokovic almost fell victim to a shocking defeat at the 2023 Paris Masters against Tallon Griekspoor.
The first seed won the last eight points to achieve a 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 victory over Dutch tennis player Griekspoor, giving him the right to advance to his ninth consecutive quarter-final in the Masters 1000 tournament. Apart from that, he has now bagged 15 wins in a row and has further strengthened his chances of becoming world number 1 at the end of the season.
Now, the first seed is ahead of Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, who surprisingly lost to Roman Safiullin in his opening match, with 670 points in the ATP Race To Turin standings which could be a barometer in the battle to become world number 1 at the end of the season.
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After the match, the tennis player who won three Grand Slam titles this season revealed that he was dealing with stomach problems, although he praised Griekspoor’s efforts.
“I don’t want to underestimate his performance. “He doesn’t lower the level of play,” commented Novak Djokovic about the Dutch tennis player.
“Maybe in some games of the third set, he let it down, but he played at a very high level of play and credit to him for performing that. If he can win that game, then he deserves it.”
“I started well, but I ran out of energy. I’ve been having quite a hard time the last few days with my stomach and I’m just not feeling myself. I tried to hold my serve and win the tiebreak, which happened in the second set. I felt lucky on some shots. The match could have easily gone according to plan, but overall, I had a good tiebreak and I felt better in the third set. I feel really relieved to be able to overcome the challenge this time.”
This victory means the Serbian tennis player still has the opportunity to win the seventh Paris Masters title in his career by qualifying for his 11th quarterfinal in the Masters 1000 tournament. Apart from that, this quarterfinal is the tenth quarterfinal of the 11 tournaments he has played in this season with the only exception being the defeat in the third round of the Monte Carlo Open.
The next task for Djokovic is the Paris Masters quarter-final match against the sixth seed, Holger Rune or the German tennis player, Daniel Altmaier.
