Novak Djokovic Facing Down His French Open Demons in Return to Final

So now, Novak Djokovic gets to stare down the beast one more time. He is already the best tennis player in the world, as he just keeps proving again and again. On Friday in the semifinals of the French Open, he crushed the new leader of tennis’ Generation Next, Dominic Thiem, 6-2, 6-1, 6-4.

He’ll face his rival from this generation, Andy Murray, in Sunday’s final.

In the tennis world, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are playing on broken down bodies now, and Djokovic has bypassed them anyway. They are suddenly from the past and aren’t a real regular threat to Djokovic. But at the same time, they are still THE threat to Djokovic.

Even though he has passed them, they still are who he wants to be. And for all the history Djokovic keeps making, he has not won the French Open.

Nadal and Federer won all four majors. Nadal and Federer are still tennis’ gods, as both are in the debate about the greatest player of all time (I’ll take Nadal). Djokovic has grumbled over the years when people won’t include him in the talk.

He has beaten both of them in all the big moments. What more can he do? It’s not easy to break into the hearts of a tennis fanbase that is in love with Federer and Nadal. But the one thing Djokovic has to do:

Win the French Open. It’s still his demon. This will be the fourth time in five years that he has reached the final. He lost to Nadal in the final in 2012 and 2014, and there’s no shame in losing a French Open final to the greatest clay court player of all time. Nadal has won nine French Opens.

But what happened last year? That’s when the French officially became Djokovic’ beast. He broke Nadal in the quarterfinals; Nadal actually gave up. And then he beat Murray, …

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