When you think “tennis” and “toilet break” (it’s rare, but it can happen), the name of Stefanos Tsitsipas is often the first that comes to mind. The Greek’s “piss stop” during the last US Open caused a stir, but they pushed Novak Djokovic’s into the shadows. Before granting himself a passage through the locker room on Tuesday at Wimbledon, when he was led two sets to zero by Jannick Sinner in the quarter-finals, to finally turn the situation around with a whistle (5-7, 2-6, 6- 3, 6-2, 6-2), the Serbian cador had already done the same last year at Roland-Garros.
And rather twice than once, against Lorenzo Musetti in the 8th then… Tsitsipas in the final. For the same scenario, now repeated seven times since the start of his career: led two sets to one, the world number 1 at the time had ended up triumphing. “He came back on the court as if he was almost a new player, then dropped the handsome Stefanos. I don’t know what happened there. I really do not know. “Before launching a premonitory:” Congratulations to him. He did well to do that. »
This Tuesday, Djoko was kind enough to explain what he had done when he joined the opulent entrails of Central Court, where he has remained undefeated since 2013. “There were two matches: in the first two sets, he [Sinner] has been better. I took a break to go to the bathroom at the end of the second set and I took the opportunity to talk to myself in the mirror, to cheer me up, ”explained the player with 20 Grand Slam titles, including six Wimbledon. .
Play it like Vincent Cassel
Reenact the famous scene of Vincent Cassel in Hatred would therefore have been enough to put the 35-year-old Serb back on track, while cutting off the legs of his young Italian opponent, his 14-year junior, so impressive until then. “I still think I can come back two sets behind, smiled the Serb. Maybe it’s the experience, the toilet break, or a combination of both…”
When you play a tournament where you haven’t lost since 2017 – abandonment in the quarter-finals against Tomas Berdych – and you have Djoko’s ego, confidence does not evaporate as easily as a ru de Provence in August. The man who said no to the anti-Covid vaccine (which could make him miss the US Open, after the Australian Open) has an appointment in the semi-finals with the Briton Cameron Norrie. Suffice to say that he will leave favorite for a 27th victory in a row on the London grass, without necessarily going through the locker room this time.