- Defending French Open champion recovers from 2-1 down to win
- ‘I don’t know if I’ll be able to step out on the court and play’
As yet another unforced error from Novak Djokovic sent him down a break in the fourth set of his tense, gripping tussle with Francisco Cerúndolo, the world No 1 reckoned with the very real prospect of his earliest defeat at Roland Garros in 15 years. He was limping, wincing, and struggling to find his range as his Argentinian opponent seemed to laser forehand winners at will.
But nobody knows how to plot their way back from a desperate deficit like Djokovic. Despite trailing by two sets to one for a second match in a row and ingesting a cocktail of painkillers for a sore knee, he found a way through, defeating Cerúndolo 6-1, 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 after 4hr 39min to return to the quarter-finals of the French Open.
Written by Tumaini Carayol at Roland Garros
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/jun/03/djokovic-pushed-to-edge-by-cerundolo-but-fights-back-to-reach-quarter-finals under the title “Djokovic casts doubts over quarter-final fitness after edging past Cerúndolo”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
