2024 Paris Olympics Day 7: Injured(?) Djokovic v Musetti, Alcaraz v Auger-Aliassime
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The Paris 2024 Olympic medal round starts on Friday but the men’s semifinal take top bill on court Philippe Chatrier with Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz one win from another collision.
Djokovic, though, once again has an injury concern with his right knee. Djokovic appeared to do something to it early in the second set of his quarterfinal. He received treatment and was able to play and recovered from 4-0 down to beat Stefanos Tsitsipas.
“I dug deep and found a way,” Djokovic told NBC. “Really glad that I managed to win the match. I had a scare early in the second set with the knee, kind of a deja vu from what happened a few months ago at Roland Garros, where I injured myself in a match, managed to finish the match victorious, but only to find out the next day that I tore my meniscus.
“So I’m hoping that’s not the case this time. I don’t know. I’m honestly concerned, but I’m going to let the medical team evaluate the knee, do examination. Tomorrow night I think I’m playing a night match at seven, so I have some time to recover and get ready. Hopefully I’ll be able to be physically fit for the semis.”
He’ll now face Lorenzo Musetti. The two have clashed three times already this year with Djokovic winning them all. The Italian had Djokovic on the ropes both times previously at the French in 2021 and just two months ago when they went past 3am.
Musetti, who has been on a tear of late, also lost to Djokovic in the Wimbledon final. A win today would arguably be the biggest of her career.
In the early match, Alcaraz looks to continue his roll against Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime. Alcaraz has won 11 straight at Roland Garros and after dropping three of his first four to Auger-Aliassime, he’s taken seven straight sets.
Auger-Aliassime comes in off a couple good outings over Top 10ers Daniil Medvedev and today Casper Ruud. He’s the first Canadian to make a singles semifinal at the Olympics.
In the women’s singles, Donna Vekic will take on Qinwen Zheng of the gold on Saturday. That leaves the Iga Swiatek and Anna Karolina Schmiedlova to fight it out for a bronze. Swiatek, the big favorite, will have to wait four more years to win gold.
The men’s doubles event lost Andy Murray who played his last match in a loss with partner Dan Evans to Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul.
“I gave as much as I could to the career,” Murray said. “There are obviously things that I look back on and wish that I could have done differently, but it’s been a tough time to win major titles in the sport with the players that were ahead of me. I’m proud of my achievements, my efforts and I’m looking forward to prolonged rest now.
“I’m sad to be finishing but the last couple of weeks since we arrived here have been brilliant. I’ve had a lot of fun being around the team.”
Paul and Fritz will now face Australians John Peers and Matthew Ebden.
In the mixed doubles gold, Katerina Siniakova and Tomas Machac take on Xinyu Wang and Zhizhen Zhang.
FRIDAY PARIS OLYMPICS SCHEDULE
Court Philippe-Chatrier
starting at 13:30
SF (13) AUGER-ALIASSIME Felix (CAN) vs (2) ALCARAZ Carlos (ESP)
(1) SWIATEK Iga (POL) vs (ITF) SCHMIEDLOVA Anna Karolina (SVK)
starting at 19:00
(1) DJOKOVIC Novak (SRB) vs (11) MUSETTI Lorenzo (ITA)
SINIAKOVA / MACHAC (CZE) vs WANG / ZHANG (CHN)
Court Suzanne-Lenglen
starting at 12:00
SF MUCHOVA / NOSKOVA (CZE) vs (3) ERRANI / PAOLINI (ITA)
not before 14:00
EBDEN / PEERS (AUS) vs (3) FRITZ / PAUL (USA)
DABROWSKI / AUGER-ALIASSIME (CAN) vs SCHUURS / KOOLHOF (NED)
(8) BUCSA / SORRIBES TORMO (ESP) vs ANDREEVA / SHNAIDER (AIN)
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