Top-seeded Novak Djokovic survived a legitimate scare — and a slippery tumble in the fifth set that sparked his agitation — to ensure his bid for an unprecedented 25th Grand Slam title will continue at the French Open.
For the second straight match, Djokovic stormed back to capture the final two sets on Monday to snatch a five-set victory — 6-1, 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory over 23rd-seeded Francisco Cerundolo — in the fourth round at Roland Garros.
Djokovic, who will face the winner of Monday’s later match between No. 7 Casper Ruud and 12th-seeded American Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals, lost his footing several times and took an awkward fall to the clay court on one point during the fourth game of the final set.
The Serbian superstar angrily yelled sarcastically at officials, “Great job by you guys. You know better than us. It’s not slippery at all, not dangerous at all! Well done, supervisor and everyone. Grounds staff, well done.”
The 37-year-old Djokovic had won three of the four majors in 2023 — all but Wimbledon, losing in the finals to Carlos Alcaraz — to surpass Roger Federer’s previous men’s record of 22 Grand Slam victories.
But he lost to Italy’s Jannik Sinner in the semifinals of the Australian Open earlier this year.
Cerundolo, a 25-year-old Argentian, was up a set and serving at 4-3 in the fourth when Djokovic pulled even with a break before grabbing a 5-4 lead in his next service game.
Cerundolo held in the 10th game and had a chance to break back to reclaim a 6-5 lead, but Djokovic won the next three points before breaking again to win the set and force the decisive fifth.
Djokovic similarly had rallied for a five-set comeback win that took 4 1/2 hours over 22-year-old Lorenzo Musetti in the third round.