The high-quality match was full of drama and suspense, twists and turns, as it was played in front of 5,000 fans, who were allowed to stay despite France's 11pm curfew as part of its coronavirus restrictions. It was one of the top three matches in my life,' said Djokovic. 'It was one of these matches you can remember forever. The 22-year-old Greek reached his first Grand Slam final by beating German sixth seed Alexander Zverev in a five-set epic earlier on Friday.įifth seed Tsitsipas must surely have been watching, like the rest of the tennis world was, as two of the all-time greats fought out a brutal battle for the right to face him in the showpiece.

So, in many ways, I was also playing for them and trying to let that inspire me.'ĭon't forget to follow us on skysports.Nadal, going for a record-extending 14th title, lost at Roland Garros for only the third time in 108 matches.ĭjokovic, 34, must now recover to play Stefanos Tsitsipas in Sunday's final. 'I was really picturing a lot of people on a Saturday night maybe checking in on the game and watching some tennis. 'Also especially emotionally, how do you handle losing that second set? How do you handle to keep pushing yourself on and try to feed off the energy of the team and thinking of all the people watching on TV? That was definitely very unique in many ways, and I'm happy I found a way,' he added. 'It was a lot of premiers for me playing against Koepfer for the first night session here in Paris, first time no fans in a long, long time, or ever in my career. However, despite the absence of fans on Saturday evening due to the government curfew, Federer insisted they still played an instrumental role in his victory. Twitter Due to your consent preferences, you’re not able to view this. The UK's No 1 scores app: Find out more.Download the Sky Sports Scores App: Apple | Android.Stephens: A lot of players on our tour suffer in silence.I don't have that feeling right now, so for me these are all stepping stones.'įederer has relished the return of crowds at Roland Garros over the last week, therefore the prospect of him bowing out in an empty arena would not have been befitting of the farewell he merits. 'I would prefer to be in Rafa's or Novak's shoes right now where they're like, I'm feeling good. So that's got a fun angle but I would prefer it differently. 'It is fun in some ways not knowing, like in 2017 when I came back or when nobody really knows - even myself doesn't know what is possible. I didn't expect to be able to win three matches here,' Federer continued. But this today was I think a huge step forward for the team. I pushed as much as I could, as we thought reasonable. 'I clearly hadn't practised for three hours, 35. Image: The 2009 champion is scheduled to take on Italy's Matteo Berrettini for a place in the quarter-finals on Monday

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