Novak Djokovic was no longer within a record. During the night from Saturday to Sunday, the Serb added a new brand to his personal collection. But this one, the world No. 1 would have done well without it. Winner after a Homeric fight lasting 4h29, the title holder validated his qualification for the round of 16 at 3:08am. A record, Porte d’Auteuil. Much later than the previous one, “held” by the poster between Rafael Nadal and Jannik Sinner, in 2020. A meeting which concluded at 1:26 a.m.
Djokovic: “Some things could have been handled differently”
So who is to blame ? At a press conference, Novak Djokovic was asked about the very late time of his victory. “I think some things could have been handled differently, he pointed out. There’s a certain beauty in winning the match at three in the morning, if it was the last one of the tournament, but that’s not the case…”
But is the organization necessarily to blame in this specific case? Everything depends, once again, on the point of view chosen to get an idea. Because despite the succession of interruptions linked to rain in recent days, the tournament can boast of having an “up to date” program in the two singles tables. This Sunday morning, all the matches of the 3rd round, men and women combined, are completed.
A performance to be credited to the roof of the Suzanne-Lenglen but also to the flexibility of the organizers, who did not hesitate to reschedule certain matches on other courts throughout the day. Like the 3rd round contested by Elina Svitolina on the modest court n°12, Saturday. The only downside is the management of the match between the Belgian Zizou Bergs and Grigor Dimitrov. Started Friday evening, the meeting was once again interrupted on Saturday in the middle of the afternoon. Fearing not being able to conclude this match on time – which would have had consequences on Sunday’s programming – the organization decided to schedule this meeting on the Philippe-Chatrier court, just before the start of the Djokovic night sessions – Musetti.
The record for the latest match held by the Australian Open
But the forceps victory of Alexander Zverev against Tallon Griekspoor (3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6), the four sets contested between the Belgian and the Bulgarian, then the incredible battle between “Djoko” and Musetti extended the Parisian night.
Let us also remember that the Parisian Grand Slam is not the worst student in this area. On this side, it’s difficult to get any later than the Australian Open, where night sessions were introduced several decades ago. In 2008, the Australian Lleyton Hewitt, for example, defeated the Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis at 4:33 a.m. Last year, in Melbourne, Andy Murray defeated the Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis at 4:05.
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It was also following these long evenings in the Antipodes that the ATP and the WTA requested last January that no meeting start after 11 p.m. A condition respected by the organizers of Roland-Garros since Djokovic and Musetti entered the Philippe-Chatrier shortly after 10:30 p.m.
