(Provided by Tennis World USA)
Milos Raonic says he knew there was no way Novak Djokovic was going to allow himself to lose to Carlos Alcaraz in the French Open semifinal. Before the start of the French Open, many talked about Alcaraz being the No 1 favorite for the title and the Spaniard also defeated the Serb in their lone meeting at the 2022 Madrid Masters.
Besides that motivating factor, Djokovic was also playing for a record-breaking 23rd Grand Slam title and the world No 1 ranking. In the end, Djokovic beat Alcaraz in four sets but the match completely changed the Spaniard started to experience cramps due to heavy stress he was feeling.
After beating Alcaraz, Djokovic also defeated Casper Ruud in the final and won a historic 23rd Grand Slam at the same venue where he wanted until 2016 to win his first title.
Raonic: I didn’t see a way Djokovic would lose that match
“That Roland-Garros semi-final against Alcaraz was a lot more meaningful.
I didn’t see a way Novak would lose that match. The way it ended was unfortunate, but Novak having a chance there after losing his last match against him, against the guy he’s been battling back and forth for No 1, he wasn’t going to let that story be written in any other way.
He’s too competitive and also I think he really wanted to have that number 23 on clay at Rafa’s event historically. There were enough of those things that anybody as great as Novak you can say you don’t look at those narratives but I think you use those narratives to motivate you,” Raonic told Tennis Majors.Now that Roger Federer is retired and Rafael Nadal is sidelined and set to retire in 2024, Raonic feels the game has kind of turned into “Novak’s Tour.”“It’s been fun to watch other people there but for most of it and, in a completely unbiased sense, it’s kind of Novak’s tour,” Raonic said.
