So far, there has been little evidence to think otherwise.Īlcaraz, who won the first major of his career by triumphing at the US Open last year, again showed his ability on the clay by winning back-to-back titles in Barcelona and Madrid. In the absence of 14-time champion Rafael Nadal, Djokovic and Alcaraz are considered the favourites to win the Coupe des Mousquetaires. Alcaraz continues 'dream' of competing with Djokovic He then received treatment but still dominated the remainder of the match to end Davidovich Fokina's hopes of an upset.ĭjokovic, through to the fourth round for the 14th successive year, will face Peru's Juan Pablo Varillas next. It is in Paris that Davidovich Fokina, ranked 34th in the world, has enjoyed his best success at a Grand Slam, reaching the quarter-finals in 2021, and he came out swinging against Djokovic with big hits and sublime drop shots causing all sorts of trouble for the former world number one.Īfter edging a first set in which he was twice a break down, made four double faults and received a time violation, Djokovic saved set point in the second before squeezing past his opponent in a second tie-break and then celebrating wildly. "The reality for me nowadays is my body is responding differently than it did few years ago." These are the circumstances that you, as a professional athlete, have to deal with. "I don't want to sit here and talk about these things that are not preventing me from playing. Sometimes you just have to deal with the reality."Īsked 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. Sometimes you need help from the god or angels, or whoever. "Sometimes you need help from physio during the match," said Djokovic.
Third seed Djokovic, 36, looked uncomfortable at times against Davidovich Fokina, particularly in the third set after he had received treatment in a medical timeout at the end of the second.īut he came through to move a step closer to winning a record 23rd Grand Slam men's singles title.ĭjokovic is yet to drop a set at Roland Garros this year but came closer than he would have liked against Davidovich Fokina - a player he lost to on the Monte Carlo clay last year - with the first two sets going to tie-breaks and lasting more than three hours combined. 'Sometimes you need help from the physios or the angels' Spanish top seed Carlos Alcaraz also progressed with a 6-1 6-4 6-2 win over Canadian 26th seed Denis Shapovalov.Īlcaraz, 20, will play Lorenzo Musetti after he beat Britain's Cameron Norrie.īut Russian seventh seed Andrey Rublev and Polish 13th seed Hubert Hurkacz were both knocked out in five-setters.
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