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Top seed Novak Djokovic defeated Norway’s Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-3 to reach the final in Rome
Novak Djokovic bagged the 1000th win of his career in style, defeating Casper Ruud in the semi-finals of the Italian Open. Djokovic has registered his name in the record books – becoming the fifth player to register 1000 wins on the ATP tour joining Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal. The World No.1 is scheduled to face Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final in Rome.
Speaking on his milestone after the match, Djokovic said, “I am blessed and privileged to have that many victories. Seeing Roger and Rafa celebrate these milestones in the last couple years, I was looking forward to getting to that milestone myself. It is a long time since I won my first match on Tour. Hopefully I can keep going and there are many more victories to come.”
The 34-year-old who won his first ATP Tour match in 2004, was presented with a cake topped with the number 1,000 by organizers after the match. The Serbian has reached 1,000 wins more quickly than rival Federer but has taken two more matches than Nadal and also slower than Connors and Lendl.
The Roland Garros starts in Paris later this month and Djokovic would be aiming to defend his title. The Serbian has had a dismal 2022 so far and the results at the Italian Open would act as a great confidence booster for him going into the second Grand Slam of the year.
The Serbian was out of action from the ATP tour for two months after he was not allowed to participate in the Indian Wells Masters and Miami Open for not being vaccinated against Covid-19. Playing after a gap of two months, Djokovic failed to find his rhythm in the Monte Carlo Masters and suffered a shock exit after a loss in his very first match against the unseeded Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. Djokovic made it to the finals of the Serbia Open but lost on home turf to Andrey Rublev.
The World No.1 would be desperate to make it count in Madrid and go all the way by winning the final against Tsitsipas before heading towards the all-important French Open.
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