Serbia meets lineman – Djokovic: “God, that was nasty déjà vu” – Sports

It is a rarity to find a player in a statistic in the Parisian arena against King Rafael Nadal. Novak Djokovic reached his 11th consecutive quarter-final at the French Open on Monday, setting a record. Nadal is far behind with “only” 6 suite wins.

In the round of 16 against Russia’s Karen Chatschanow, Djokovic showed little trouble in 3 sets, but still had a delicate moment to survive. In the first set, the world number 1 did not hit a forehand as expected and instead hit a linesman with the ball over the head, completely unintentionally, of course. Still, the bad memories of the US Open returned immediately.

Goodbye Carreño Busta

“My God, it was awkward déjà-vu,” the Serb said afterward. “I saw it had a little scratch.” Djokovic had already knocked down a linesman in New York, but at the time out of frustration and with disqualification as a result.

In his fourteenth quarter-final at Roland Garros (on par with Nadal), the 33-year-old will meet Pablo Carreño Busta on Wednesday, as he did at the US Open. Djokovic has never lost in 4 games against the Spaniard, except for that forfait loss at Flushing Meadows.