This is just what Novak Djokovic needed a week before the French Open.
The Serbian, first in the world rankings, beat Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-3 in the Italian Open semifinal on Saturday, with which he settled in his most relevant final so far this yearNo After missing a good part of activity at the start of the season due to his refusal to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, Djokovic will seek to extend his winning streak to five in a row over Stefanos Tsitsipas, his rival in the final this Sunday. Tsitsipas reached his first final in Rome by beating Alexander Zverev 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. Djokovic is looking for his sixth title in Rome. He earned the 1,000th career win from him. He is only the fifth man to reach that mark, after Jimmy Connors (1,274), Roger Federer (1,251), Ivan Lendl (1,068) and Rafael Nadal (1,051). After the match, Djokovic was presented with a cake with writing on it the number 1,000. “I saw Roger and Rafa celebrate those milestones, and I was looking forward to having 1,000 wins as well,” he said. The Balkan star is playing just his fifth tournament of the year. His previous best result was reaching the final of the Serbian Open last month. The week before, he fell to 19-year-old Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinal of the Madrid Open.