Rain interrupted the match for a long time, at the end of the second set, but it did not save Novak Djokovic, nor did his call to the doctor during the first set. The world number 1 bit the wet ochre of the Masters 1000 of Rome this Wednesday in the quarterfinals, against Holger Rune (6-2, 4-6, 6-2). The young 20-year-old Dane had already dominated the Serb (who will celebrate his 36th birthday on Monday) in the final of the Paris-Bercy tournament last November.

Djokovic, who will lose the world No. 1 spot to Carlos Alcaraz on Monday, delivered a rather worrying performance 11 days before the start of Roland Garros. He will come to Paris with an unremarkable record of five wins to three losses in three tournaments on clay this season.


❌ Monte-Carlo - 1/8
❌ Banja Luka - 1/4 Rome - 1/4
❌

Are we worried about Novak Djokovic in Roland? pic.twitter.com/TUMp5gY8oZ

— We Are Tennis France (@WeAreTennisFR) May 17, 2023

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He was successively stopped in the eighth-finals in Monte-Carlo, then in the quarterfinals in Banja Luka, Bosnia, and therefore in Rome, after withdrawing last month in Madrid because of a painful elbow. Winner of six titles, including last year in the Italian capital, the Serb had not lost at the quarter-final stage for 10 years.

The Nadal interrogation

The uncertainty is greater than ever before Roland Garros. Undisputed master of the Porte d'Auteuil, Rafael Nadal (14 victories in Paris) has not been seen in competition for nearly four months and his defeat in the second round of the Australian Open, because of a hip problem. Alcaraz will be the favorite, but his defeat in Rome in the third round, Monday against the unknown Hungarian Fábián Marozsán (135th in the world), leaves one wondering.



Rune is far from his worries. The Dane will face in the semifinals of the Rome tournament the world number 4, the Norwegian Casper Ruud, or the Argentine Francisco Cerundolo (31st), opposed in the evening of Wednesday.

  • Tennis
  • Sport
  • Novak Djokovic
  • Holger Rune
  • Masters de Rome
  • Masters 1000
  • Roland-Garros 2023