Lorenzo Musetti played an outstanding match against Novak Djokovic in the French Open fourth round. The new Italian sensation played fantastic tennis for the first 2 sets after winning both at the breaker. Eventually, Novak Djokovic found the solution and after a lengthy toilet break and the beginning of the third, he won the next 2 sets after dropping just one game.
Lorenzo Musetti looked out of sorts, and he retired from the match when he was 4-0 down in the fifth set.
It seemed as though the Italian was struggling with an injury. However, during the press conference that followed the match, he admitted that he was not injured, but he just decided to withdraw since it was “the right thing to do.”
Many remained unimpressed by this decision and tennis legend Boris Becker, the former coach of Novak Djokovic, also expressed his disappointment.
“Lorenzo Musetti is the best teenager together with Sinner. Novak had problems with Musetti’s style of play. He does everything quite well. He doesn’t have the big weapon, but the serve is okay, the movement, the technique and also the confidence because he had already won many matches this year.
“When you face the biggest in the scene, you have to be ready physically and mentally. The young guns don’t understand that. It’s not just playing tennis, it’s about character and personality. I haven’t seen a very bad injury. That’s why I don’t think it’s good to stop. You should have respect for the other player and say: “He beat me today – then it’s 6-0″. It’s a test of maturity. But athletically, he can absolutely keep up.”
Lorenzo Musetti in 2021
Now ranked no.76 (career-high), Lorenzo played his last match on the 7th of June when he had to retire when playing against world no.1 Novak Djokovic in the 4th round and the scoreline was 6-7(7) 6-7(2) 6-1 6-0 4-0 .
At the moment, during this season the Italian has achieved a compiled 30-16 record. Lorenzo Musetti’s most significant result of the current season was getting to the final in the Antalya Challenger and the Biella 2 Challenger.
Djokovic at the French Open, ranking, and results in 2021
Ranked no.1, Novak has a composed 24-3 match record in 2021. Djokovic is currently competing at the French Open where he overcame Tennys Sandgren 6-2 6-4 6-2, Pablo Cuevas 6-3 6-2 6-4, Richard Berankis 6-1 6-4 6-1 and Lorenzo Musetti 6-77 6-72 6-1 6-0 4-0 ret..
Novak Djokovic will come up against the world no.9 Matteo Berrettini in the quarter. Their record is 1-0 for Djokovic.
The Serbian has won 2 titles in 2021 at the Australian Open and in Belgrade. Djokovic was the runner-up in Rome (Internazionali BNL d’Italia).
The Serbian won 83 titles in his career: 48 on hard courts, 16 on clay courts, 13 on indoor courts and 6 on grass courts. (See the list of his titles)
Lorenzo Musetti and Novak Djokovic faced off only 1 time. Their head to head is 1-0 for Djokovic. When they played, Novak Djokovic won 6-7(7) 6-7(2) 6-1 6-0 4-0 ret. in the 4th round in Paris (French Open) on the 7th of June 2021.
Here the video highlights.
Lorenzo Musetti and Novak Djokovic |
| Embed from Getty Images |
