Agence France-Presse
Paris, June 4: Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray will meet in a seventh Grand Slam final Sunday with the clock ticking on their French Open title aspirations.
World No. 1 Djokovic, the winner of 11 majors, is bidding for his first French Open to become just the eighth man to complete the career Grand Slam. A victory would also give him the ‘Novak Slam’ as he already holds the Wimbledon, US and Australian Open titles. The 29-year-old has lost all three finals he has made in Paris.
Murray, also 29 and a rival of Djokovic since their junior days, has previously fallen three times at the semifinal stages. The last British man to win in Paris was Fred Perry way back in 1935 while Bunny Austin was the last finalist from his country in 1937. “It’s a very tough event to win. There is a lot riding on the match for both of us,” said the Scot.
Djokovic was runner-up to nine-time winner Rafael Nadal in 2012 and 2014 and was stunned by big-hitting Stan Wawrinka last year. He will be playing in his 20th Grand Slam final and seventh against Murray having won four times against the Scot. If he does finally break his drought in Paris, he will be the second oldest to complete the career Slam after Andre Agassi who managed the feat in Paris in 1999.
“I put myself in a position in which I wanted to be in of course ever since last year’s final,” said Djokovic, who has already set one impressive benchmark in Paris by reaching the USD 100 million prize money barrier.
