Novak Djokovic vs Karen Khachanov: Another Novak's 2:0 Over Karen?

The next opponent of the first racket in the world, Novak Djokovic, will be #26 Karen Khachanov, a longtime acquaintance of Novak. Bookmakers in the pair have almost no doubt in the victory of the local tennis player, and we agree with the exposed line. We believe that Karen has almost no chance to beat even this Novak, who is not at all in the best shape.

The upcoming match against Khachanov will be Djokovic's fourth on clay. Before the match against Karen, Novak played one match in Monte Carlo against Davidovic Fokina, a Masters finalist. In Belgrade the Serb overcame two of his compatriots, both in three sets, showing that Novak is not yet in top form. But the victory over Kecmanovic was easier than the victory over Györe, although the world number one again lost in the first set. Note that Novak is doing well with practice, two full matches at home, Novak had to start playing, which is a minus for Karen.

Every stage of your career — especially after playing for 20 years on the Tour — has its differences in terms of how you approach things mentally. My life has changed so much over the last 10 years, and my body as well. So you have to adapt to that, understand these changes, understand what I’m going through and figure out the biology of things. I constantly strategise, organise and plan with my team that helps me to peak at the right time and be able to compete with the young guys.

Novak Djokovic explains why he chooses to continue his career

For Khachanov, as well as for Djokovic, the upcoming match will be formally the fourth on the clay in the season. Although in fact, Karen played two clay matches because Safiullin withdrew before the match in Belgrade. Before Belgrade, Khachanov played one match in Monte Carlo, losing to Schwarzman in three games. Before the match against Djokovic, Khachanov beat the Brazilian Monteiro in two games. Karen fired seven times and had zero double faults. Khachanov won 83% of his first serve points and 65% of his second, while his receiving percentage was 29% for Monteiro's first serve and 65% for Monteiro's second.

Novak won in our last meeting, but the situation is a little different here. This is his [tennis] center, his city, his country, his fans. Everything here is his. I think there will be a great atmosphere in the stadium. I understand he'll get a lot of support, but hopefully they'll cheer me on a little bit too. I'm sure it will be a real battle. Couldn't have wished for a better opponent in the semifinals

Karen Khachanov before the match against Djokovic

After two hard matches against his compatriots, we believe that Djokovic will try to beat Karen Khachanov in two sets as quickly as possible. Novak himself is slowly gaining form, and Khachanov can be called a convenient opponent for the first racket in the world because Novak has not lost a set to Karen since November 2018 and the Paris indoor. By the way, Karen defeated Novak only once in the indoor, where the Serb was always vulnerable, and Karen was very dangerous. We believe that Novak Djokovic will get a confident victory over Karen Khachanov on Saturday.