Musetti beautiful but not ruthless, Djokovic wins again
(Gaia Piccardi) This is still the land of the Joker. The wicked one, with the evil grin. It fails‘Italian connection: Lorenzo Musetti which he tries with all his might to eliminate Novak Djokovic in the third round of Roland Garros guaranteeing Jannik Sinner the top of the world ranking.
The pincer maneuver fails: at dawn in Paris, at the top of the five most phantasmagorical sets that Lorenzo the Magnificent has ever played in his life, the gentleman from Belgrade who has just turned 37 and has 22 Major titles under his belt has more legs, breath, soul, life (7-5, 6-7, 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 in 4h29′). Jannik’s overtaking (on Sunday evening the South Tyrolean takes to the field against the Frenchman Moutet), together with Musetti’s paradise, can wait.
Beautiful matchwhich was staged too late due to bad weather and indecent programming (and thank goodness that Roland Garros has a roof over the two main courts), rematch of the 2021 round of 16, same beach, same sea, when Lorenzo collapsed in the distance in front of the Serbian god of war, never died even when he died.
Three feats in the third game allow Musetti to deserve the first break: he needs the entire range of his shots, which is very wide, to destabilize the Djoker. But it’s a blaze, not a fire. The Serbian immediately takes back the stolen goods. 2-2. From the stands, where coach Tartarini and mentor Barazzutti sit, instructions rain down for the Italian: stay close to the back line, be aggressive. The challenge is open, the memory of the two sets won three years ago on this court (first direct match with the Serbian) fills his thoughts, the serve is there, with his fifty shades of backhand Musetti moves his opponent, how to close the point is another kind of problem. Djokovic lets him play, then often needs the clarity of the last shot at the top of long rallies or getting wild to go and collect a drop shot, which the Belgrade dragon masterfully hides. He is a nice Musetti, finally solid and centered. But the Djoker is initially more so. Even though he was serving, the 12th game was fatal for Lorenzo, pushed behind the baseline by his opponent’s pressure. Break and set after a daring exchange, when the Italian puts the backhand long. 7-5. And Djokovic, exhausted, comes out to catch his breath.
Play him on the right, push: the usual advice from the stands. But it’s not easy to contain a Djokovic who responds deeply, armed with lifts that hurt Lorenzo because they force him to climb onto the ball to tame it, and then try to do what he wants with it. With two extraordinary dampens, the best takes the break in the fourth game of the second set: 3-1. He goes up 4-1 then, suddenly, as if the story he wrote suddenly weighed on his shoulders, he remembers that he is old: it is the usual hole of concentration and tiredness of this version of the Djoker, indomitable but twilight. Musetti sews up 4-4, raising the barricades he hoists himself to the tie-break: he goes ahead 3-0, he is caught and overtaken (5-4) by an exhausted rival who, at that point, does everything alone. He throws away a set point and loses (8-6).
For Djokovic, the job is no longer enough. The opponent is younger, vigorous, aggressive. Unlike in the past, and it is no small change, Musetti does not lose either the field or his hopes. He is never tired, he intelligently manages slow and heavy terrain on which it is almost impossible to shoot winners, he keeps the maneuver under control. He breaks in the fourth game (3-1), agile and light as if he hadn’t been playing for almost three hours, closes the set 6-2.
It’s two in the morning in Paris, a night record is about to be broken. With the dignity of the champion who does not accept heirs, while lactic acid makes its way into the opponent’s muscles, Djokovic takes back the central role of the match: he breaks the 3-2 in the fourth set, scores a second (5-2), closes (6-3). Match in a draw.
But the psychological advantage belongs to the Joker, reduced to a mask of fatigue: he is more used to fighting, he is more familiar with this wild type of wrestling, he is the third wheel that has reassembled the Federer-Nadal dualism, what fear do you think he has of Musetti? It’s Novak Djokovic, dammit. With a score of ten games to one, and with the last breath in his lungs, the number one runs away and never gets caught again. 6-0. A merciless fifth set for Musetti, beautiful but not ruthlessassuming one can learn to be one.
This story of youth and old age compared ends at 3:07, dthe ancient that does not succumb to the new, of life that flows under the bridges over the Seine. He deserved another time, another audience, another resonance yet another feat by Djokovic who rebels at the beginning of the Sinner era (just a matter of time) moving the night – and also Sunday morning – a little further.
