After beating Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the third round of the French Open, Novak Djokovic lamented that he went through the game with a series of injuries.
With the series of injuries which he said he didn’t have enough time to completely name, Novak Djokovic qualified for the French Open fourth round with a 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 win over Fokina.
During the intense game on Friday, the 36-year-old Serbian tennis star received treatment for a strained thigh before he continued playing.
Even after receiving treatment during a medical stoppage at the end of the second set, Djokovic periodically showed symptoms of discomfort in the third set against the Spanish tennis star.
Despite the discomfort, the third-ranked tennis star defeated the 29th-ranked as he continued his push for a record-tying 23rd men’s singles Grand Slam trophy.
The year before, he lost to Davidovich Fokina at Monte Carlo on clay, and their first two sets, which went to tiebreaks, lasted a combined total of more than three hours. Although he has remained unbeaten at Roland Garros this year, Djokovic got far closer to a defeat than he would have liked.
“Sometimes you need help from physio during the match,” Novak Djokovic said after the game.
“Sometimes you need pills. Sometimes you need help from the god or angels, or whoever. Sometimes you just have to deal with the reality.”
Asked if he was concerned about his physical state, he added: “We don’t have much time to start to name the many injuries I have, and the list is quite long.
“I don’t want to sit here and talk about these things that are not preventing me from playing. I still kept on playing. These are the circumstances that you, as a professional athlete, have to deal with. Accept it.
“The reality for me nowadays is my body is responding differently than it did a few years ago.”
On the other hand, Carlos Alcaraz, the top seed from Spain, also advanced after defeating Denis Shapovalov, the 26th seed from Canada, 6-1 6-4 6-2.
Alcaraz, 20, beat UK’s Cameron Norrie to face Lorenzo Musetti in the next round.
