Novak Djokovic seemed to pay this Monday against Francisco Cer�ndolo the fatigue accumulated in the third round of Roland Garros with Lorenzo Musetti. The five sets and the 4 hours and 29 minutes that he remained on the court, until 3:07 in the morning on Sunday, were not an obstacle impossible for the Serbian to overcome.
Djokovic had to request the presence of the doctor and physiotherapist twice of the tournament and complained about everything: about his knee due to the state of the court and the lights. His mobility was reduced to the minimum expression. Anyone else would have retired, but the Balkan, legend of racket sport and the only ‘Big 1’, was not going to do it..
Cer�ndolo, which he served to go 5-3 up in the fourth set, saw how his opponent achieved a hopeful break for him. It was then Novak who remained at 5-4 to force the tiebreaker. He had plenty of will, but he lacked legs.
It didn’t matter. Faith moves mountains and the break came in the twelfth round. Everything was going to be decided in the fifth set. Djokovic started with a favorable 2-0, which escaped him in a flash. In between, a slip by the Serbian, who attributed it to the state of the brick dust. He ‘congratulated’ the pisteros for this. The best won, ‘Nole’ won, 6-1, 5-7, 3-6, 7-5 and 6-3, in 4 hours and 39 minutes.
On a day marked by the sun, who had not looked a single day before in Paris, Djokovic pulled the hierarchy against a Cer�ndolo who was never convinced that he could beat him. The 370 victories in the ‘Grand Slam’ allow him to add a new record to his unmatched record and bury one of the few marks that Roger Federer maintained.
Most matches won in ‘Grand Slam’
Novak Djokovic 370
Roger Federer 369
Rafael Nadal 314
Jimmy Connors 233
Andre Agassi 224
The second record that Djokovic took from Federer was the number of times in the quarterfinals of the majors. Total 59, one more than Roger. The Balkan, 37 years old, remains in the race to retain the champion crown and the ATP title pursued by Jannik Sinner.
The first seed in the draw awaits the winner of the duel between Casper Ruud and Taylor Fritz in the penultimate round.
