One step away from the abyss, then the sensational rebirth. Sudden, disruptive, disarming. Novak Djokovic got a taste for “impossible missions” in this edition of Roland Garros. He now seemed destined for a knockout first against Lorenzo Musetti, then against Francisco Cerundolo. And if in the round of 16 match against the Argentine someone accused him – but is it possible? – that he “faked” the knee injury, for the one in the previous round against Carrarino many took it out on Musetti’s coach. Yes: in the age of social media, even phrases “stolen” from TV during matches can give rise to online storms and uproar.
Tartarini and Barazzutti, the words that would have stimulated Djokovic
According to a large number of “haters”, it would have been the invitations of Simone Tartarini, Lorenzo Musetti’s coach, to revive Novak Djokovic in the most difficult moment of the fourth set. Phrases that would have prodded the Serbian, giving him unexpected energy and stimulating him to believe in it until the end. Corrado Barazzutti, Musetti’s supercoach, was alongside Tartarini in the stands and in turn addressed some of the “incriminating” phrases to the player. Interviewed by Fanpage, Davis’ former blue hero goes on the counterattack. He defends Tartarini and urges those who had criticized him: “But what wrong did he say? What’s offensive?”.
The sentences to Musetti against Djokovic: the supercoach’s explanation
Barazzutti is caustic in his answers to Marco Beltrami’s questions: “There are bad people who speculate, our sentences have been extrapolated because we only encouraged Lorenzo“. And again: “I didn’t understand why he caused a stir by saying ‘make him move because he’s dead’ or by saying to Tartarini ‘since he’s so sick he should retire’. Nothing much, Simone said something like ‘play so that the game ends quickly’ or something similar, but she said it because there was a moment when Musetti had a leg problem, it was just an incitement to play. They were messages to encourage him.”
Roland Garros, the precise moment Djokovic made the breakthrough
According to Barazzutti there was a moment the game is shot: “Lorenzo had the game in hand, he was the one managing the match. And this was also declared by Djokovic who said ‘I no longer knew what to do to get a point’. And among other things I had the feeling that Nole was exhausted after three rather tough sets. It seemed to me that he wasn’t going all out anymore and that he was struggling, doubled over in some situations. I tried to encourage Musetti by saying ‘look, he’s tired, he’s dead, make him move’. Then suddenly in the fourth set, at 3-2, 40-30 Musetti made a double fault, and Djokovic had a jolt. The game changed: it’s as if he saw the possibility of returning to the game and taking it back and from there there was nothing more to do.”
