"I don’t want to get into it" - Novak Djokovic bites his tongue over French Open scheduling leading to his 3:00 am late finish
Novak Djokovic battled into the early morning hours of Sunday (June 2) at the 2024 French Open, defeating Lorenzo Musetti in a thrilling five-setter that lasted over four and a half hours. The Serb had his fair share of "opinions" about the scheduling decisions that made it happen in the first place but opted not to get into the matter instead.
Roland Garros has been hit with unexpected rain these last few days, making it very difficult for organizers to get matches completed in the outside courts where there are no roofs. Only two of the show courts in Paris have roof protection - Court Philippe-Chartrier and Court Suzanne-Lenglen. As a result, several matches have been accommodated in these courts when they get interrupted by showers.
On Saturday (June 1), Djokovic and Musetti were scheduled to play in the night session at Philippe-Chartrier, right after the evening session clash between Alexander Zverev and Tallon Griekspoor. With Zverev and Griekspoor going five sets, their match was pushed to a later starting time as it was.
To make things worse, the third-round encounter between Grigor Dimitrov and Zizou Bergs, which had been interrupted in the second set by rain, was also moved to the center court before the Djokovic-Musetti battle. As a result, the Serb and the Italian did not take the court until 10:30 pm local time, more than two hours later than initially scheduled.
Speaking to the press after the exhausting 7-5, 6-7(6), 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 win, the World No. 1 was asked about his thoughts on the Dimitrov match being played before his. While he admitted that he had things to say, he refused to elaborate and chose to focus on the positives from the night instead.
As for how to handle the late-night finish, the 37-year-old joked that it was time for him to switch on all his "young genes" and recover in the next 40-plus hours.
"I knew you guys were going to ask me that. Look, I don’t want to get into it. I have my opinions, but I think there are great things to talk about instead. Both Lorenzo’s and my performances stood out, I don’t want to be talking about scheduling I think somethings could have been handled a different way," Novak Djokovic said.
"But there’s beauty as well, I guess, winning a match at 3:30am… If it’s the last one of the tournament. But it’s not, so I’m going to have to switch on all of my young genes and try to recover as soon as possible," he added.
"They started chanting my name, I felt a great new wave of willpower" - Novak Djokovic on French Open fans helping him in 3R comeback
In his on-court interview, Novak Djokovic thanked the French Open fans for getting him going as the night progressed, stating that their constant cheering made him pull off the comeback. At his press conference, the Serb reiterated the sentiment, remarking that he turned into a different player once the crowd started chanting his name.
"I really mean what I said on the court that the crowd definitely got me going. I really needed that push, I needed that energy at two-all in the fourth. They started chanting my name, and I just felt a great new wave of willpower and energy," Novak Djokovic said.
"I was a different player from that moment onwards. I think from that moment onwards I only lost one game. The fifth set was just amazing. I was on a high, riding that wave and really not letting go of that stranglehold that I created on Lorenzo at the end of the fourth," he added.
The World No. 1 will next take on Francisco Cerundolo in the fourth round of the French Open.