When Novak Djokovic said a drama-free grand slam was beyond him, a straight-sets win in three hours and 36 minutes was probably not what he had in mind.
There was nonetheless no shortage of drama as Djokovic, the third seed, kept his quest for a record 23rd grand slam title on track at Roland Garros with a 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 victory over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
Having stirred controversy earlier in the week by scrawling a political message on a TV camera lens, and then quipped that he was “trying to impersonate Iron Man” after cameras picked up a nanotechnology patch fixed to his chest during his win over Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics, Djokovic offered a reminder here that he is indeed made of tough stuff.
Davidovich Fokina, seeded 29th and 13 years Djokovic’s junior, defeated the Serb in their only previous meeting, last year in Monte Carlo, and once again he subjected the world No 3 to the sternest of examinations. Djokovic spent much of the match digging balls out of either corner as the flamboyant Spaniard unleashed a relentless baseline barrage, interspersing his assault with moonballs, lobs and some exquisite drop shots.
Davidovich Fokina, a quarter-finalist at Roland Garros two years ago, served for the first set and had a set point in the second. Had he made good on the latter opportunity, the battle would probably have raged well into the evening. But Djokovic is rarely found wanting at the big moments, and he stepped up to win a controlled and obdurate 18-stroke rally that left Davidovich Fokina exhausted and hunched over on the baseline, gasping for air.
Djokovic being Djokovic, the drama did not there.
With the ensuing tiebreak won, the two-time champion celebrated wildly, raising hackles in the stands with a fist-punching 360-degree twirl. A chorus of boos rang out, and there were further jeers when Djokovic subsequently took a medical timeout for treatment on his left leg. It was a bizarre moment: Davidovich Fokina had left the court for a bathroom break, so the Serb was not delaying the resumption of play. But the Parisian crowd, which derided Taylor Fritz long and loud after his victory over the Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech the previous evening, famously marches to the beat of its own drum.
“They are people, they’re groups or whatever, that love to boo every single thing you do,” said Djokovic. “That’s something that I find disrespectful and I frankly don’t understand that.
“But it’s their right. They paid the ticket. They can do whatever they want. At times I will stay quiet. Not at times, actually, 99% of the time I will stay quiet. Sometimes I will oppose that, because I feel when somebody is disrespectful, you know, he or she deserves to have an answer to that.”
Asked whether the treatment he received was for a specific injury, Djokovic declined to elaborate. He did, however, offer a candid insight into his physical state at this stage of his career.
“We don’t have much time to start to name the many injuries I have, and the list is quite long,” said Djokovic. “I don’t want to sit here and talk about these things that are not preventing me from playing.
“These are the circumstances that you, as a professional athlete, have to deal with. Accept it. Sometimes you need help from the physio during the match. Sometimes you need pills. Sometimes you need help from the god or angels, sometimes you just have to deal with the reality.”
With a two-set lead established in gruelling fashion, Djokovic moved through the gears relatively swiftly in the third, breaking twice without reply to seal victory. It was nonetheless the longest three-set match of his career at a major, eclipsing his defeat to Korea’s Hyeon Chung at the 2018 Australian Open by 15 minutes. Despite his chequered build-up to Roland Garros, which included an elbow injury and defeats to Lorenzo Musetti in Monte Carlo, fellow Serb Dusan Lajovic in Banja Luka, and Holger Rune in Rome, Djokovic has yet to drop a set. Nor can he complain that he has not had the chance to play himself into form.
“I don’t remember when I played last time three hours, two sets,” said Djokovic. “If I lost one of the first two sets, it was looking like it was going to go four, five hours.
“It was a day and conditions that were, I think, very challenging for both players physically. Lots of exchanges. Serve was really not an advantage for either of us. It was cat and mouse every single point, trying to outsmart your opponent.
“We were doing a lot of running. Not just left, right, but forward and backward, especially when he was playing from that end where he was playing against the wind, he was drop-shotting a lot. He was making me work for every point.
“I just have to be, in the end of the day when I draw a line, very content to win this match in three sets.”
There was no such comfort for Andrey Rublev, who let a two-set lead slip as he was undone by Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
Sonego, into the fourth round of a major for the first time, will face Karen Khachanov next after the Russian 11th seed prevailed 6-4, 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5) against Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis on Court Simonne Mathieu.
“I played, I think, my best tennis this year,” said Sonego, the world No 48. “There were a lot of things in my mind, but I tried to stay focused every point and enjoy the moment.
“Obviously a big emotional moment for me and for my team, for my family.”