Novak Djokovic remained tight-lipped when asked for his opinion regarding the Roland Garros schedule, which led to his late finish to his third-round match against Lorenzo Musetti.
Djokovic's path to the second week of Roland Garros was a long one because he needed five sets to overcome an inspired opponent in Musetti. Their tussle lasted four hours and 26 minutes and finished in the early hours of Sunday morning.
The 3 a.m. finish was the latest in a match at Roland Garros since the tournament inaugurated a night session back in 2020. It smashes the record of the previous late-night finish by at least 90 minutes.
Tennis pundits have heavily criticized tournament organizers for the farcical scheduling, with Djokovic's former coach Boris Becker calling it "mad and unprofessional" that a Grand Slam match would run past midnight.
Fellow players have also weighed in on the subject. Coco Gauff stated that it was unhealthy for tennis players to play so late into the night, and it would most likely ruin their day's schedule. Carlos Alcaraz has confessed to his distaste for night sessions.
Djokovic was immediately asked about it in her post-match press conference after beating Musetti but preferred to keep his feelings to himself and abstained from giving his honest take.
"I knew you guys were going to ask me that. Look, I don’t want to get into it. I have my opinions, but I think there are great things to talk about instead. Both Lorenzo’s and my performances stood out, I don’t want to be talking about scheduling I think somethings could have been handled a different way."
"But there’s beauty as well, I guess, winning a match at 3:30a.m. If it’s the last one of the tournament. But it’s not, so I’m going to have to switch on all of my young genes and try to recover as soon as possible."
The top seed backed up that result by winning a second successive five-set match after beating Francisco Cerundolo to reach the quarterfinal. The match lasted four hours and 40 minutes.