Novak Djokovic credited a wave of support from the French Open crowd for helping him avoid an upset at the hands of Lorenzo Musetti in a third-round thriller that ended in the early hours yesterday.
The world No. 1 is renowned for his will power and stamina, but conceded his title defense had been on shaky ground when his Italian opponent took a two sets to one lead during the four-and-a-half-hour match.
“I was in real trouble on the court and he was playing some really amazing tennis. I didn’t know really what to do,” the 37-year-old said. “From both hands, he was getting a lot of balls back, winners from both corners. Good serves running every ball down the court. It didn’t feel great playing him that third set and the beginning of the fourth.”
Photo: AFP
“The [crowd] start chanting my name and I just felt a great new wave of willpower and energy. I really needed that push, I really needed that energy,” Djokovic said. “I think I was a different player from that moment onwards, and I think from that moment, I probably lost only one game in the rest of the match. I was on a high, riding that wave.”
Defeat would have ended the Serbian’s quest for a record-extending 25th Grand Slam trophy and resulted in him losing the No. 1 ranking to Musetti’s compatriot, Jannik Sinner, later this month.
Djokovic might have had grounds for complaint after organizers had wedged another contest into the evening schedule, pushing the completion of his match to 3:06am, the latest ever finish at the French Open.
The three-times French Open champion preferred to focus instead on the quality of the five-set contest.
“I don’t want to get into it. I have my opinions, but I think there are great things to talk about in this match today,” he said. “Both Lorenzo and my performances stand out, so I don’t want to be talking about the schedule. I think some things could have been handled a different way, but there’s also a beauty in winning a match [so late].”
Djokovic, who said on court that he would not able to sleep because of the adrenaline rush, is back in action today in the fourth round against Argentine 23rd seed Francisco Cerundolo.
“I really physically, pushed myself to the very limit to win this match,” he said. “I’m going to have to switch on all my young genes and try to recover as quickly as possible.”
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
RSS