Lorenzo Musetti: "You can never count Novak Djokovic, you have to kill him 10 times"
Lorenzo Musetti scored the biggest victory of his career on Thursday, coming from a set down to beat Novak Djokovic in the 2023 Monte-Carlo Masters. Facing the Serb in the third round, Musetti prevailed 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 in a rail-delayed match that lasted more than three hours.
Speaking at his press conference afterwards, the Italian admitted that he and Djokovic were both struggling under the conditions, which were both windy and cold. At the same time, the 22-year-old opined that their level improved as the match went on, with the rallies stretching out more and more as the clash dragged on.
"I don't know honestly. [Djokovic]'s always such a unique player. You can never count him out. I think somehow we were both struggling at the beginning, because the conditions were not easy to play. There was a lot of wind. Was cold. Even the balls and the conditions were completely different from the other days and from the past day," Musetti said.
"So probably I think our highest level especially in the match was at the end or at the end of the second set, and in the third set we were serving better. We were I think having more rallies, long rallies," he added.
Hailing the 22-time Grand Slam champion as a "unique" player, Musetti was glad to get the win over him, even if he played badly at times. The World No. 21 pointed out that a less-than-perfect Djokovic is still a very hard player to beat, joking that one had to "kill him 10 times" if they really wanted to get one over him.
"At the end I'm happy with the win, and I didn't focus too much on him. I just had to think of what I had to do to beat him. Even if he plays bad, he's still the No. 1 in the world, so you can never count him out and you have to kill him like 10 times," Lorenzo Musetti said.
Lorenzo Musetti takes on Jannik Sinner after Novak Djokovic clash
Lorenzo Musetti will next take on compatriot Jannik Sinner in the quarterfinals of the 2023 Monte-Carlo Masters, only his third quarterfinal of the year after Buenos Aires and Marrakech.
Recalling the difficult start to the season he's had so far, Musetti was thankful to his team and family for continuing to believe in him, revealing that he worked "pretty hard" over the last month to make his victory over the Serb possible.
"I kept believing on my team, on the hard work that we are doing every day, and I tried to adjust something. I think I worked pretty hard in the last month to achieve these results that they are showing up today. I'm really proud of my team and of my family that always support me," Lorenzo Musetti said.