Serena Williams’ former coach Rennae Stubbs criticized chair umpire Adel Nour for giving Novak Djokovic a time violation during the fifth set of his late-night third-round thriller against Lorenzo Musetti in the 2024 French Open. The penalty notably resulted in the Serb losing his first serve.
This happened when the clock at Roland Garros was nearing the 3-am mark on Sunday, June 2, with Djokovic and Musetti already grinding for more than four hours. At this, Musetti urged the chair umpire to restore the Serb’s first serve but to no avail.
Rennae Stubbs expressed her annoyance at the schedule of the match, to begin with.
“I can’t believe they’re still playing tennis at 3am! Don’t tell me this is ok! Cause it’s not,” Stubbs posted on X (formerly Twitter).
A few minutes later, she took to X again and denounced the umpire’s decision to call time on the 24-time Grand Slam champion given the grueling circumstances.
“Time violation at 3am after that epic a point is soooooo ridiculous. Come on umpire,” Stubbs added.
Djokovic started off by winning the opening set but Musetti fought his way back into the match by securing the following two sets. The Serb, however, didn’t fade away and took the fourth set to force a decider and dished out a bagel to secure a 7-5, 6-7(6), 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 victory.
It was notably the Serb’s fifth win over Musetti in six duels thus far. Also, it was their second five-setter at the French Open as their first-ever match was stretched to five sets at Roland Garros in 2021.
The Italian surprised the Serb in that match by claiming the first two sets but the latter stormed back into the match dishing a breadstick and a bagel in the third and fourth. Musetti eventually retired while trailing 4-0 in the deciding set and his opponent for that day went on to claim the championship.
Novak Djokovic plays Francisco Cerundolo in French Open 4R
Novak Djokovic is scheduled to take on Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo in the fourth round of the 2024 French Open on Monday, May 3. The match is set to be held in the morning session at Philippe Chatrier.
Notably, it will be the Serb’s first meeting with Cerundolo, who defeated 14th seed Tommy Paul 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 in his third-round effort on Saturday. The Argentinian overcame Yannick Hanfmann and Filip Misolic in straight sets in the previous rounds.
The winner of the Djokovic-Cerundolo fourth-round matchup will face either Casper Ruud or Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals. Ruud and Fritz are set to clash in the fourth round on Monday at Roland Garros.
