John McEnroe has called out the French Open for shafting Novak Djokovic with the schedule and causing him problems as he narrowly avoided an upset loss in the fourth round The world No. 1 had to battle back from two sets to one down for the second straight match, beating the 23rd seed 6-1 5-7 3-6 7-5 6-3.
Momentum shifted when Djokovic picked up a knee injury early in the second set and called the physio. And McEnroe thought the problem was linked to his 3.06am finish in the previous round.
Organisers threw Djokovic under the bus when they added another match to the schedule ahead of his third-round contest with Lorenzo Musetti, meaning they walked on court more than two hours late. Djokovic completed an epic comeback in the dead of the night after Musetti led by two sets to one, winning 7-5 6-7(6) 2-6 6-3 6-0 in four hours and 29 minutes.
It meant he had significantly less time to recover before taking on Cerundolo. That didn’t appear to be a problem in the early stages as he raced into a 6-1 lead. But in the third game of the second set, he felt something in his knee and started shaking it out, calling the physio.
He had an intense medical time out, starting on his bench before moving to the floor for treatment. And McEnroe claimed that the organisers’ scheduling decisions were to blame. You’ve got to know that had something to do with it,” the American said on Eurosport commentary. “If you’re stiff in certain body parts, which I’m sure he was, you start to compensate and that’s when you can get in trouble.
Addressing Djokovic’s sudden injury scare, he added: “[It looks like] some kind of hyperextension of the knee. I presume he’s willing to take the strongest legal pain medication he can take.”
And McEnroe slammed tournament bosses for sticking Grigor Dimitrov’s match against Zizou Bergs on Court Philippe-Chatrier before Djokovic’s night session on Saturday, as they had been rained off the previous day.
The decision was made before the previous match, Alexander Zverev vs Tallon Griekspoor, went to a final set tiebreak. But by then it was too late. Dimitrov and Bergs resumed their match when Djokovic was originally meant to start.
McEnroe continued: “Maybe they will think twice about putting Zizou Bergs on with Grigor Dimitrov for a couple of hours which threw off the schedule completely the other night when Djokovic went on at 10.30pm instead of 8.15pm, and you’re like, ‘What?’ I get that they want to catch up, that makes total sense, but come on, it was absurd.
