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LONDON. — World number one and five-time champion Novak Djokovic reached his 10th Wimbledon tennis semi-final, and 41st at the Grand Slams, on Wednesday.
He then faced down a journalist who asked him what it felt like being the “bad guy” of the sport.
Djokovic, chasing a record-equalling 20th Grand Slam title, defeated Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, and will face Denis Shapovalov of Canada, for a place in Sunday’s final.
Should he win a sixth title, Djokovic will go level with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal on 20 major titles.
Despite his success, the Serb then faced the first questioner at his post-match news conference who asked “what has it been like to be something of the ‘bad guy’ chasing after Roger and Rafa all these years?”
“I don’t consider myself a bad guy. I mean, that’s your opinion,” said 34-year-old Djokovic after his 100th career grass court win. “I’m not chasing anybody. I’m making my own path and my own journey, my own history. I’m privileged to be part of history of this sport that I love.
“As I said on the court, I know about a lot of stats. I don’t know about all of them. But they do motivate me even more to play my best tennis at the events that count the most in our sport.”
Djokovic will take a 6-0 career head-to-head advantage over 22-year-old Shapovalov into their match today.
The Canadian left-hander will be playing in his first Grand Slam semi-final.
“We played a tight two-set this year in the ATP Cup, which was the first opening official match for him and I of the season,” added Djokovic. The courts at the Australian Open are pretty quick this year so I could get a little bit of an understanding of how well he’s serving, if he’s serving well, you know, how difficult it is to play against him.”— AFP.
Online Reporter