What Novak Djokovic said about the duel with Cerúndolo at Roland Garros :: Olé

Novak Djokovic is used to making history. He achieved this by becoming No. 1 in the ranking, something he will seek to maintain in this tournament, and also becoming the player with the most Grand Slam conquests. Unexpectedly, in the 16th round of Roland Garrosthe Serbian did it again: he played until 3 in the morning and beat the Italian Lorenzo Musetti (30th) after five sets to qualify for the round of 16, in which he will face Francisco Cerúndolo. After the game, Nole spoke about the Argentine.

Tired, but with adrenaline pumping after a game that exceeded four and a half hours of play and he celebrated for 7-5, 6-7 (8), 2-6, 6-3 and 6-0Djokovic took a few minutes to mention a historic day at the Philippe Chatrier: “I enjoyed some moments, maybe others not so much. I didn’t find many solutions for Musetti, the support of the public made me get up. The fifth set was fantastic. We made history tonight“.

“It was really incredible, as was the atmosphere. I want to thank everyone for staying until 3 in the morning,” Nole continued in conversation with ESPN. Regarding the upcoming commitment, which will be even more special for the Argentines because it involves a match with Cerúndolo, he wanted to take a break and clear his mind: “Tomorrow’s game… I’m going to sleep first”.

But making a brief analysis of his rival, before leaving the court and going to bed to regain energy, the world No. 1 commented: “I have a lot of respect for him, he is a great player and a great person. Two brothers who came to the tour together (by Juan Manuel). He is very consistent, he doesn’t have many weaknesses in his game. He’s Argentinian, so he knows brick dust very well. “I have to recover because I’m going to have to run.”

The match between Novak Djokovic and Francisco Cerúndolo (27th) will be played this Monday with schedule to be confirmed. The commitment will be transmitted by ESPN and Star+.

In the race to avoid taking first place in the ATP ranking, Nole fights hand to hand with the Italian Jannik Sinner. The situation is the following: since Djokovic won last year’s Roland Garros, in this edition he is defending the 2000 points at stake (in other words, those beans that he had harvested were erased). Before this panorama, Sinner was No. 1 in the virtual ranking.

Even if you have the chance to lose, Nole still has two probable ways to continue being the best player in the world: one is that he reaches the final and that Sinner has been eliminated before the semifinals, and if not, he stays with the tournament for the fourth time and that the Italian says goodbye to the competition before the definition.