Not thrilled with Roland Garros scheduling, Djokovic looks to bounce back from late night against Cerundolo

Novak Djokovic’s 7-5, 6-7(6), 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 win over Lorenzo Musetti in round three of the French Open on Saturday night–or more like Sunday morning–lasted four hours and 29 minutes ended at 3:06. It was, of course, the latest finish in Roland Garros history.

With the third round delayed by basically nonstop rain throughout week one, the continuation of a day-session match between Grigor Dimitrov and Zizou Bergs was moved under the Court Philippe-Chatrier roof. It went four sets, pushing the Djokovic-Musetti start time from 8:15 pm to after 10:30.

As expected, the 37-year-old was asked about that scheduling decision at his post-match press conference.

“I knew you guys were going to ask me that,” Djokovic answered. “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 some things could have been handled a different way. But there’s beauty as well, I guess, (in) winning a match at 3:30 am.”

In addition to the absurdly late finish, the match itself took a physical toll on Djokovic–who had already been dealing with some fitness issues earlier in this spring. Nonetheless, the world No. 1 rolled with Musetti’s best punches and managed to come up with the necessary answers.

“You’re playing a 20+ rally at 2:00 am…,” he commented. “Who plays at 2:00 am? You play a few matches in your life at this time. Especially (it’s tough) if someone like Lorenzo is playing on the opposite side of the net the tennis of his life and not missing much and making you play every point. 

“It was so muggy and so heavy conditions, very cold, the balls were not going anywhere. You weren’t getting too many free points off the serve, so you had to work every single point. That’s why I really physically pushed myself to the limit tonight.”

Djokovic will be back on the court on Monday against Francisco Cerundolo, marking their first-ever head-to-head meeting.

Cerundolo has now advanced to the fourth round of a major twice in his career. Unsurprisingly, both have come at Roland Garros (also in year). This season for the 27th-ranked Argentine has mostly been disappointing, but he may be turning the corner with Paris defeats of Yannick Hanfmann, Filip Misolic, and Tommy Paul.

Of course, Cerundolo would much rather be facing Musetti instead of Djokovic.

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.