An injured Novak Djokovic proved why he is the best around thanks to a French Open classic victory against Francisco Cerundolo. A fighting Djokovic battled his own body to take 23rd seed Cerundolo all the way, eventually beating the Argentine 6-1, 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 in the fourth round of the French Open , an epic that will be remembered for years. It saw him break Roger Federer 's legendary record, winning the most Grand Slam matches in men's tennis, registering his 370th victory.
But he was made to work hard for it after blitzing the first set, with problems starting to arise for Djokovic as he looked in agony, even yelping in pain on the Philippe Chatrier court. The world No. 1 hit out at the ground officials and insisted the court was too slippy, resulting in an injury, but the officials refrained from his request to sweep the clay.
It led to Djokovic needing significant treatment to his knee, which was perhaps aggravated by a gruelling second set that went 7-5 in Cerundolo's favour. On the side of the court, medics attended to the 24-time Grand Slam winner, working his injured leg before he returned to action. The Argentine then seemed to feed on the momentum and took the third set 6-3 as Djokovic continued to complain about the conditions.
Brimming with frustration, Djokovic lashed out at the chair umpire and mics even caught him saying to the referee: "You screwed up my knee." The 37-year-old was forced to play until 3am in a brutal third-round match on Saturday agains.
