DJOKOVIC STUMBLES, GOFFIN FALLS, NADAL KEEPS ROLLING AT ROLAND GARROS

Written by: Staff on 2nd June 2017

French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros

DJOKOVIC STUMBLES, GOFFIN FALLS, NADAL KEEPS ROLLING AT ROLAND GARROS

epa06005771 A general view of Court 1 as Dominic Thiem of Austria play Steve Johnson of the USA during their men?s single 3nd round match during the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 02 June 2017. EPA/YOAN VALAT |

By Ricky Dimon

David Goffin crashed out–almost literally–of the French Open on Friday. Novak Djokovic almost joined him on the sidelines.

Instead, Djokovic righted the ship to defeat Diego Schwartzman 5-7, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 during the first day of third-round action. The defending Roland Garros champion prevailed after three hours and 18 minutes.

“He definitely deserved the applause he got [at] the end of the match,” Djokovic said of Schwartzman. “Because he was fighting; he was playing really well. He was the better player probably for first three sets, and then the fourth and fifth set went the way I hoped that the whole match [would] go.

“So I’m glad that I have some positives to take from today’s match. I was mentally still strong and as calm as I could be. Even though I was two sets to one down I kept believing I could break his resistance…. All in all it was good to be part of five-set match. I didn’t play too many of the five-setters the last couple of years. I see a lot of good things in it; I think it will put me in a good place mentally.”

“It was amazing for me–[after] the match with the crowd, all the people here,” Schwartzman reflected. “(It) was really nice. I receive everything, that noise from the people. It’s amazing for me.”

Few players at Roland Garros receive more crowd support than David Goffin, and the in-form Belgian appeared to be on the way to giving his fans another memorable ride in Paris. The 2016 quarterfinalist, however, slipped on a tarp at he back of Court Suzanne Lenglen and sustained an ankle injury during his match against Horacio Zeballos. Goffin was immediately forced to retire while leading 5-4 in the first set.

According to Goffin’s coach, there is no ligament damage or broken bones and his status will be updated on Sunday.

A wrist injury knocked Rafael Nadal out of last year’s event prior to the third round, but all systems are go this time around. Nadal is through to the second week following another straight-set beatdown, this one even more dominant than the first two. The fourth-ranked Spaniard clobbered Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-0, 6-1, 6-0 in a mere one hour and 30 minutes.

“I think I played great,” Nadal commented. “I think at the beginning of the match he was not playing bad and I was able to produce winners, to play with no mistakes, to play (with) very high intensity in all the shots. (It) was a great match for me, no?”

Basilashvili agreed.

“He’s a much, much better player than I am, obviously,” the Georgian admitted. “He’s playing unbelievably [well] at this moment with everything. So I don’t know what advice I can give (to his next opponent).”