Novak Djokovic samedi soir, enfin dimanche matin très tôt vers 3h30 en zone mixte média, après son troisième tour de Roland-Garros. Contraint de commencer son match à 22h40 à cause du retard pris dans le programme, le Serbe est allé au bout de la nuit pour finalement l'emporter en cinq sets contre Lorenzo Musetti, 7-5, 6-7(6), 2-6, 6-3, 6-0. Malmené dans les deuxième et troisième manches, Djokovic a trouvé des ressources bluffantes pour finalement renverser la vapeur et prendre le dessus sur Musetti, pourtant son cadet de 15 ans. Ce Djoko-là, en mission 25e Grand Chelem, est monstrueux. Malgré les doutes, le manque de victoires, le manque de rythme, le numéro 1 mondial est allé chercher une victoire à 3h07 du matin, après 4h29 d'effort. Le Serbe devra bien récupérer pour son huitième lundi contre Francisco Cerundolo.
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SportTranscription
00:00 Novak, congratulations. We know not to write you out, but after three sets you looked like
00:07 you were in real trouble there. So how did you turn that one around?
00:12 Well, I was in real trouble and credit to Lorenzo for making me uncomfortable on the
00:20 court and playing some really amazing tennis. You know, very high level at one point. I
00:26 didn't know really what to do. From both ends he was getting a lot of balls back, winners
00:31 from both corners, good serves, running every ball down the court. So, yeah, it didn't feel
00:40 great playing him that third set and beginning of the fourth. I really mean what I said on
00:47 the court, that crowd definitely got me going. I really needed that push. I really needed
00:52 that energy. And two all in the fourth, they started chanting my name and I just felt a
01:01 great new wave of willpower and energy. I think I was a different player from that moment
01:08 onwards. I think from that moment I probably lost only one game to the rest of the match.
01:13 The fifth set was just amazing. I was on a high, riding that wave and really not letting
01:19 go of that stranglehold that I created to Lorenzo at the end of the fourth. I just kept
01:26 going, kept plugging away and an amazing winner to finish off the match. I want to thank all
01:34 of you and of course all the crowd and all the people that stayed until 3.30am. I heard
01:40 it was the latest finish of Roland Garros in history. I'm glad to be part of the history
01:45 with Lorenzo. I told him at the net that he played amazing and it was a great battle.
01:51 I know of course it's a tough one to swallow when you lose a match like this, but he can
01:57 be proud of his performance.
01:58 Were you struggling to breathe at times? You were doubled over. What about the recovery
02:03 now for the next match?
02:04 I mean, when you're playing 20 plus shot rallies at 2am, who plays at 2am? You play a few
02:14 matches in your life at this time, especially if somebody like Lorenzo is playing on the
02:20 opposite side of the net, tennis of his life, not missing much and making your play every
02:25 single point. It was so muddy and so heavy conditions, very cold, the balls were not
02:33 going on anywhere. You wouldn't get too many free points with a serve. You have to work
02:40 every single point of the night tonight. That's why I really physically pushed myself to the
02:47 very limit to win this match.
02:49 How did you feel about the match before you being caught on?
02:52 Look, I knew you guys were going to ask me that. I don't want to get into it. I have
03:01 my opinions, but I think there are great things to talk about as we're talking about this
03:07 match today and both Lorenzo's and my performance stands out. I don't want to be talking about
03:12 schedule. I think some things could have been handled a different way. There's beauty as
03:17 well, I guess, winning the match at 3.30am if it's the last one of the tournament, but
03:22 it's not. I'm going to have to switch all of my young genes and try to recover as quick
03:31 as possible.
03:32 Thank you for well serving.
03:33 Thank you.
03:34 [MUSIC PLAYING]