Novak Djokovic broke a French Open record after enduring the latest finish in the Grand Slam’s history.
The Serbian star was facing Lorenzo Musetti in the third round of the competition – a match that he won over five sets, winning 7-5 6-7 (8), 2-6 6-3 6-0.
But as well as battling to victory over his opponent, Djokovic was battling extreme tiredness having finished the match at 3:08am local time.
Heavy rainfall has impacted the French Open schedule, meaning that the 37-year-old’s match was pushed back after organisers decided to squeeze an unfinished match in before their third-round contest.
That decision was taken early on during Alexander Zverev‘s clash with Tallon Griekspoor – a match that ended up taking more than four hours to complete.
As a result, Grigor Dimitrov‘s match against Belgian Zizou Bergs – which needed to be finished – didn’t get started until 7:45pm.
Dimitrov needed four sets to win that match, meaning that Djokovic’s match was pushed back.
Originally scheduled to start at 8:15pm, Djokovic’s third-round clash didn’t get started until 10:40pm.
With the matched tied at two sets apiece, umpire Adel Nour called for a time violation, to which Djokovic pleaded: “Have a little bit of understanding. It’s 4am.”
While it was only actually 3am, you can’t blame the Serbian for being a bit cranky given it was just a couple of hours from sunrise.
Djokovic will face Francisco Cerundolo in the fourth round as he looks to win his fourth French Open and add to his 24 grand slam titles.
News Summary:
- Novak Djokovic tells umpire to ‘have a little understanding’ after record-breaking French Open clash goes on until 3am
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