Another happy ending for the tennis star in his second five-set thriller in Paris. The defending champion limps, he staggers – but he doesn’t fall. But the knee injury is causing concern
Novak Djokovic obviously can’t do it without drama: two days after his record third-round match at night, the Serbian tennis star literally tortured his way into the quarter-finals at the French Open.
Handicapped by a knee injury and visibly dissatisfied with himself and the world, the defending champion once again delivered a nerve-wracking five-set thriller in which he prevailed 6:1, 5:7, 3:6, 7:5, 6:3 against the Argentinian outsider Francisco Cerúndolo after 4:39 hours.
He was lying on the floor in between and actually only had one explanation for his comeback after trailing 1:2 in sets, said the 37-year-old during the interview on court with a “big thank you” to the crowd: “You did it!”
With his 370th victory in a Grand Slam match, he surpassed Swiss tennis icon Roger Federer in this statistic. The Serb (59) also broke the record previously shared with Federer (58) for the number of quarter-finals at the four major tournaments. In Paris, he reached the round of the best eight for the 15th time in a row – but the 24-time Grand Slam tournament winner was not in title form against Cerúndolo. His physical condition in particular raises questions.
Djokovic, who only finished his third round match on Saturday against the Italian Lorenzo Musetti after 3 a.m. and four and a half hours, initially appeared to have recovered well from the exertions. At the beginning of the second set, however, the 24-time Grand Slam tournament winner took a medical time-out to have his right knee treated. He revealed the reason for this when he later complained to the head umpire about the amount of clay on the court: “I twisted my knee. I was slipping and sliding all the time. “
Apathetic look and puzzling body language
Djokovic also clashed again with the crowd on Court Philippe Chatrier, which had been too loud for him during a rally. After Cerúndolo finally managed to capitalize on a break chance to win the second set on his 13th attempt, the Serb also shouted in the direction of his box. “The volcano is alive – the question is when it will erupt,” his former coach Boris Becker had already said about Djokovic after the third-round match.
Djokovic’s body language was puzzling. He moved into his position after the rallies, slinking or limping. After losing the third set, the sports star looked almost apathetically into space on the bench, his injured leg stretched out. To the delight of the fans, he showed more fighting spirit again in the fourth set and saved himself with a show of strength in the final round. There he showed strong nerves
