'Novak Is Human': Djokovic Chasing 23rd Grand Slam Helps Ruud Says Zverev

Alexander Zverev believes that Novak Djokovic being on the brink of winning 23 Grand Slams could help Casper Ruud in the Roland Garros final.

Sunday, June 11th, 2023, will see Novak Djokovic battle Casper Ruud in the Roland Garros final. Djokovic booked his spot in the final by beating a cramping Carlos Alcaraz in four sets, while Ruud thoroughly outplayed Alexander Zverev in three simple sets.

The final will be an interesting one for many reasons. Ruud will play his third Grand Slam final, second at Roland Garros, hoping to finally win his first major trophy. He's now been in finals, it's nothing new for him, so his chances should be better than in previous times.

It's a similar thing for Djokovic as he's been in plenty before, and he's been favored like this plenty of times before as well. For the most part, Djokovic handles the pressure well, but there is one thing that could benefit Ruud a little bit, according to Zverev, and that's the humanity of Djokovic. As spectacular as Djokovic is, he's still only human.

The pressure of possibly finally winning gold for Serbia took its toll. Later that year, it happened again at the US Open. With a chance to finally get the Calendar Slam done, to solidify his status as the greatest of all time, Djokovic crumbled against Daniil Medvedev, who won a lot easier than many thought he would.

Those instances certainly taught Djokovic a lesson. Let's see if he can apply what it taught him on Sunday.