Will Novak Djokovic have enough left in the tank for French Open 2024 after an exhausting late-night finish against Lorenzo Musetti?
French Open defending champion Novak Djokovic beat Lorenzo Musetti 7-5, 6-7(8), 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 in an intense third-round match that lasted four hours and 29 minutes. The match continued till 3 A.M. local time on Sunday, June 2. Djokovic will face Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina in the fourth round on Monday.
Musetti played a very good match on the day, but the World No. 1 bounced back in style to emerge victorious, as he has done on numerous occasions throughout his career.
However, the Serb is 37 years old, and such a long match can take its toll on the body and possibly hamper his chances in the subsequent matches. This forces the question of whether the three-time French Open champion over-exerted himself in the early stages of the tournament.
Djokovic is one of the fittest players around:
Even at this age, the Serb’s fitness is a thing of envy for his much younger competitors. Moreover, he almost always manages to raise his game on the biggest of stages. Hence, he should be feeling confident enough ahead of the start of the second week of the tournament.
Djokovic was not stretched much in his first two matches against Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Roberto Carballes Baena. The Serb had seven and 12 break-point opportunities against Herbert and Carballes Baena and managed to convert seven and three of them, respectively. Thus, the match against Musetti was the first one where the 24-time Grand Slam champion had to dig deep.
Musetti is a dangerous opponent on clay, and overcoming him will give the Serb a feeling of assurance. Going by his reputation, Djokovic should not have much difficulty in getting past Cerundolo and then be fresh enough for a likely quarterfinal clash with Casper Ruud.
Things could naturally start getting difficult from the quarterfinal onwards, with Ruud, Zverev/Medvedev, and Alcaraz/Sinner being the Serb’s three prospective opponents.
If one takes a look at the Serb’s title-winning campaign at Roland Garros last year, he lost only a couple of sets en route to clinching the title. However, things cannot be as smooth every time and he will take heart from his another triumphant campaign in 2021 that saw him lose six sets in the tournament.
Notably, he had played an epic five-setter against Musetti that year as well. Therefore, their recent meeting might generate a feeling of deja vu in the Serb. All in all, he will feel that he is in familiar territory going into the second week of the tournament.