A lot was spoken about the French Open organizers due to their lopsided scheduling of matches at the 2024 edition. The Novak Djokovic knee injury was the pinnacle of that controversy. While many went hush-hush after the Grand Slam concluded, Djokovic, the main person involved, has finally touched upon the subject.
Novak Djokovic’s stunning 5-setter win over Lorenzo Musetti might go down as one of the finest ever in Roland Garros’ history. But unfortunately, he will also remember that the match finished at 3:07 am – an unusual time for a tennis match to get over. And that was the most contentious part of the tournament.
Both Djokovic and Musetti were drained after the match. The Serb entered the next round where he once again won a thrilling 5-setter, against Francisco Cerundolo. But the toll of the last match weighed heavily on the 24-time Grand Slam champion.
Djokovic had to forfeit his quarter-final match since the pain was too much. It was never a good idea to start Novak Djokovic’s match at 10:30 pm on top of that. However, the French Open organisers delayed the superstar’s match because the match prior to that, which featured Grigor Dimitrov, had to be shifted to Philippe Chatrier at 8 pm local time.
But now, Novak Djokovic has finally spoken about the matter to the Serbian news outlet Sportklub. He compared the best aspects of Wimbledon while clearly taking a dig at Roland Garros.
“My thoughts are on the tournament, I feel good physically. The whole body is prepared for maximum effort.
“The good thing is that the Grand Slams are played every two days. At least here, I know that I won’t finish the matches at three in the morning, since there is a curfew.
“So I will not experience a situation identical to that of Roland Garros. I have a good team around me, we have prepared well, we will take it match by match.”
From Djokovic’s thoughts, it is clear that he hasn’t yet come to terms with the messy scheduling of the French Open. Amelie Mauresmo, the tournament director, faced a lot of flak for it at the time from various corners of tennis media. But she defended herself by saying that they tried their best.
However, Mauresmo was compelled to do so because Amazon has an exclusive rights deal with the French Open in France, which includes night session matches of superstar players. Hence, the Serb’s match couldn’t be brought forward, but instead pushed back.
Novak Djokovic Also Credited Taylor Fritz for Quick Recovery
After his injury, which looked pretty serious, it seemed unlikely that Djokovic would be fit in time to play at Wimbledon 2024. But such is the willpower of the man, that he not only recovered in time but is also raring to go for the title.
The 3-week recovery from his knee injury is being dubbed as a ‘miraculous one’. Djokovic credited his recent conversation with Taylor Fritz as a motivational one for him in a press conference at Wimbledon.
Djokovic shared that his detailed discussions with Fritz, who had been through something similar 3 years ago, fueled him to compete at Wimbledon. Fritz was injured during the 2021 French Open, and he ended up playing at Wimbledon 21 days later.
“Taylor Fritz! Three years ago he had pretty much same situation. Actually, I had probably like four, five days more than him. So, he was the first person I reached out to when I found out that he had similar injury and circumstance.
“He was very kind to share his journey and really helped out with some of the experiences and advices, you know, how to approach it because it’s the first time I had this kind of a knee injury,” Djokovic was quoted as saying in an interview.
At the time of writing this report, Novak Djokovic won the first two sets, 6-1, 6-2 and was leading 1-0 in the first round match against Vit Kopriva.
