The appointment is in the third shift of the Philippe Chatrier, the most important stadium in Bois de Boulogne. There, on the brick dust where albiceleste tennis lived an unforgettable day 20 years ago, Francisco Cerúndolo goes this Monday for the big hit (the almost impossible hit) in the 2024 edition of Roland Garros. The Buenos Aires man, 27th in the ranking, will try to lower the Serbian Novak Djokovicnumber one in the world, defending champion and one of the best (for many the best) player of all time, in a round of 16 duel that will be the highlight of the day.
The two will seek special milestones in their careers, in the match that will start no earlier than 11 in Argentina and will be televised by ESPN y Star+.
Cerúndolo, 25 years old, wants to get into the quarterfinals of a “big” team for the first time and improve the eighth that he had achieved last year in Paris, so far his best performance in the most important category on the circuit.
Djokovic, who at 37 years old is still at a competitive level, has the chance to make history, because could achieve his 370th victory in a Grand Slam and surpass Roger Federer’s record, which he equaled by reaching the round of 16 after winning a marathon duel against Lorenzo Musetti well into the early hours of Sunday morning.
For the Argentine it will be a more than special match, because Absent He is one of his childhood idols and it is the first time he will meet him on a field.
“It is a nice challenge, a reward for me, because I have never played against him and I don’t know if I will have the opportunity to do so again in the future.“, he anticipated Fran after defeating the American in the third round Tommy Paul by 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 y 6-2.
In a conversation with the ATP Tour, he also recalled a nice moment he had with the number 1 when he was playing the Belgrade ATP qualifier in 2021. “Djokovic came up to me to greet me, I was 110, 120 in the ranking… He greeted me , introduced himself and began to congratulate me, not only for the final in Buenos Aires (he had played in the BALTC in his first final months before), he also congratulated me for having won three Challengers, for my moment, I don’t know what… I knew everything,” he said.
Djokovic, meanwhile, assured that it will not be an easy task to beat the Buenos Aires player. “I have a lot of respect for him, he is a great player and a great person. They are two brothers who came to the tour together (for Juan Manuel, the youngest of the Cerúndolo). Francisco It is very consistent, it does not have many weaknesses in his game. He is Argentinian, so he knows brick dust very well. I have to recover because I’m going to have to run“said the Serbian, number one in the world, in a chat with ESPN.
The winner of 24 Majors was talking about recovery because minutes before he had closed his pass to the round of 16 by defeating 7-5, 6-7 (6-8), 2-6, 6-3 y 6-0 Musetti in a meeting that started at 11 pm on Saturday and It ended at 3:07 on Sunday in Paris.
Never before had a match by the “great” Frenchman ended so late. And in the history of the circuit, there were only eight that closed with the clock further into the early morning. Curiously, the one that leads that statistic is not a five-set duel, but rather the first round of the ATP 500 Acapulco 2022 in which Alexander Zverev victory to Jason Brooksby at 4:54 in the morning.
Does that exhausting physical, tennis and mental battle against Musetti take away favoritism from Djokovic? If we talked about Absence 2023 version – who won almost everything he played – it would be easy to say no. But The Serbian is almost unknown this seasonin which he knew how to score good victories, but also suffered unprecedented defeats (the third round of Indian Wells before the Italian Luca Nardi123°, the most resonant).
Irregular, with ups and downs and without the forcefulness that he was able to show in the past, he arrived at Roland Garros as the top favorite, but without titles or finals in 2024 and with number 1 at stake. Not even the title in Paris will guarantee him retaining first place in the ranking, although he has to reach the final to have a chance of not losing it to Jannik Sinner.
“When you have such demanding rallies over 20 strokes and beyond 2 in the morning, it is inevitable to feel fatigue and physical problems. I physically pushed myself to the limit to beat Musetti. I will have to activate all my young genes to recover as soon as possible“, reflected the Balkan.
Beyond the fact that the Serbian is not going through his best moment, Cerúndolo – who had a good previous tour, peaking in Madrid Masters 1000 where he defeated Zverev (5th) in the round of 16 and lost in the quarterfinals – there is no confidence.
“For him it will be a bad year, but for anyone else it would be a great year,” said the Argentine. And he got excited: “It will be an unforgettable experience. I want to feel what it’s like to play against the best.”.
Zverev and Sabalenka, other stars who will take the field
Although the clash between Djokovic and Cerúndolo will steal everyone’s attention – especially if we talk about the light blue and white crowd – there will be other great matches on the day that will close the round of 16 of Roland Garros.
In it Philippe Chatrier The Kazakh opens the action Elena Rybakinafourth seeded, and the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, 15th, from 6 in Argentina. Next, the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenkasecond favorite, collides with the American Emma Navarro22ª.
In the night section, not before 3:15 p.m., the German Alexander Zverevfourth seed and one of the great candidates for the title after his consecration in Rome, will face the young Dane Holger Rune13°.
Daniil Medvedev y Casper Ruud are the great attractions of the day in the Suzanne Lenglen, in two high-flying crashes. The Russian (5th) faces the Australian Alex De Miñaur (11th) in the second turn. And the Norwegian (7th and finalist in the last two editions of the “big” French) tests himself against the American Taylor Fritz (12°).
On that court, two women’s team matches are also played: the Italian Jasmine Paolini (12th) will face the Russian Elina Avanesyan; and the Russian Mirra Andreevathe great promise of the women’s circuit at 17 years old, goes against the French Varvara Gracheva.
It also has action Horacio Zeballostop favorite in the men’s doubles along with Marcel Granollers. The Argentine-Spanish duo, number one in the world, collides with the one formed with the Monegasque Hugo Nys and the polish Jan Zielinski15th seeded, for the third round of the couples draw.