Novak Djokovic’s come-from-behind 7-5, 6-7(6), 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 win over Lorenzo Musetti in the French Open third round lasted four hours and 29 minutes and ended at 3:06 on Sunday morning. It was, of course, the latest finish in tournament history.
With the third-round schedule delayed by rain and more bad weather on Saturday, the continuation of a day-session match between Grigor Dimitrov and Zizou Bergs on the outer courts was moved under the Philippe-Chatrier roof. It went four sets, pushing the start time of Djokovic vs. Musetti from 8:15 pm to after 10:30.
Unsurprisingly, the world No. 1 was asked at his press conference about that scheduling decision.
“I knew you guys were going to ask me that,” he responded. “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.”
Beyond just the late finish, the match itself was a physical struggle for Djokovic–who had already been dealing with some fitness issues earlier in the clay-court swing. Nonetheless, the 37-year-old Serb took Musetti’s best punches and managed to hit back.
“You’re playing a 20+ rally at 2:00 am…,” Djokovic reflected. “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.”
The defending champion will be back in action on Monday against Francisco Cerundolo.
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