It is over when Djokovic says it's over

Serbian ace was on his knees, a set away from elimination, no signs of change, reversal, were visible, and then...

Then, when everyone wrote him off, he managed to rise and in the middle of the night, after more than four and a half hours of play, he broke the incredible Lorenzo Musetti.

"My life story is that I do my best when everyone writes me off. That motivates me even more, and I have shown what I am made of so many times in my career. But as Bryant says - is the job done? The job is not done," Djokovic said in the mix zone.

Conferences are almost always organized after the matches, but at half past four in the morning, there was no sense, although there was a solid number of journalists, mostly from our country and from Italy.

In a situation like this, you have to ask Novak only one thing: "How can you do this, man?"

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Novak was completely knocked down at the beginning of the fourth set, the conditions and Musetti, who turned into a wall, seemed like an insurmountable obstacle.

Djokovic's body language was so pessimistic, his strength was running out, he was nervous about different things, first of all the schedule of the match, the court, the opponent playing at such a high level.

However, little by little, one break, then another, and it was clear that we would have to witness the real, after-midnight drama again.

Already in those moments, a record was broken, the record for the latest finish of the match. The previous ones were held by Rafael Nadal and Jannik Sinner in 2020 (1.26h).

They certainly did not want to boast about this historical data, especially not Novak, who was certainly dissatisfied with the organizers' decision to "insert" another one before their match.

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Instead of starting according to the planned schedule at 8:15 p.m., Djokovic and Musetti had to go out on the court a little after half past 11, and then it was clear that we were in for a long night.

Djokovic encouraged us by winning the first set, but because of the second set, we thought that his defeat is inevitable. He had a break advantage, a set point in the tie-break, but in vain.

The third set completely discouraged us, but after a few good points followed by cheers from the crowd, which switched to his side, Djokovic managed to pull himself together and announce a new miracle.

It was directed in a dominant way, with the "potato", which he handed to Musetti. Even this time, winning two sets was not enough for the Italian, since he did the same thing three years ago in this same place.

Coldness, heavy ball, probably also freshness, since he is 15 years younger, everything was on Musetti's side, who literally returned everything and forced Novak to play an extra point.

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That extra shot usually ended up in out or the net, in those moments when Novak seemed to say goodbye to the tournament, which he won three times.

"I told Lorenzo that he was incredible and that he can be proud of his game. It's a bitter pill for him, but this is the best tennis I've seen him play. He has a bright future if he continues like this," Novak said.

During his career, Djokovic played many matches in which he pushed the boundaries, there were more significant victories, but this was one of those to be remembered eternally.

"We are witnessing history", commented Novak, and on court, in French, he said that this was the most exciting match, with the most emotions, that he played in the Boulogne Forest. Everything seemed semi-bizarre, Novak and Lorenzo fighting in the middle of the night at the end of their strength, the umpire who has no sense of the game, just like the schedule organizers, and then the fans, the most persistent ones, who don't give up. Towards the end of the duel, some spotlights seemed to start to go out. Everything looked like a disaster, but in one thing they were mistaken. It's over when Novak says it's over.

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