For the second straight match at the French Open, top seed Novak Djokovic dropped two sets and rallied for the win in the final two. He won his fourth-round match on Monday against Francisco Cerundolo in five sets: 6-1, 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.
Djokovic advances to the quarterfinals and will face No. 7 Casper Ruud or No. 12 Taylor Fritz on Wednesday. This means he passes Roger Federer as the man with the most Grand Slam quarter-finals at the age of 59.
However, the defending French Open champion left some doubts over whether he will be healthy enough to continue playing after suffering a leg injury on Monday.
“I don’t know what will happen tomorrow or after tomorrow when I can go on the court and play,” Djokovic said after the match. “I hope so.”
The defending French Open champion Djokovic faced Ruud in the final last year and defeated him in three sets. Ruud has reached the past two tournament finals, while Djokovic has won two of the past three titles at Roland Garros.
On Monday, the three-time champion won the first set against Cerundolo before losing the next two. That was likely in large part due to an apparent injury Djokovic suffered to his knee in that first set.
Fans on social media expressed skepticism that Djokovic was actually injured and needed a medical timeout, but he did lose the next two sets and received treatment throughout the match.
“It definitely disrupted my game,” Djokovic said of the injury. “Two sets, two and a half sets, I didn’t want to stay in the rally for too long. Every time he would make sudden drop shots or change direction, I wouldn’t feel very comfortable running.”
He may also have been tired from playing five sets until 3am local time on Saturday morning against Lorenzo Musetti, the last ever match at the French Open. The late times are a concern among players at this year’s tournament.
However, Djokovic held on and rallied in what turned into a 4-hour, 39-minute match to prevail against Cerundolo’s strong serve, drop shots and returns that sent him across the court.
An absolute visual highlight was Djokovic going low and returning a volley in the fifth set, almost doing the splits as he went to the ground. He complained to the referee earlier in the match and called out to the grounds staff that the clay court was slippery.
Djokovic thanked the fans in attendance for their support and said they gave him the energy to come back and win (via The Independent).
“I would like to thank you very much, because just like in the previous match, the victory is yours and you will be helped,” Djokovic said in French. “The last match I was down two sets to one, and in the fourth set, 2-2, you gave me so much energy – thank you really. What can I say, I was maybe four points away from losing this match.” match, but Francisco played with so much quality. Well done.”
