Australian tennis great Wally Masur believes Novak Djokovic is “feeling the heat” of his quest to overtake Rafael Nadal and win a men’s record 23rd grand slam title in Paris.
Djokovic, the third seed, will play the unseeded Juan Pablo Varillas in the fourth round at Roland-Garros on Sunday night (AEST).
The Serbian superstar was unhappy at how he was received by the French crowd in his 7-6, 7-6, 6-2 victory over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the third round.
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“(Carlos) Alcaraz is winning the fans around the world at every tournament that he goes to. Novak Djokovic on the other hand, is seeming to be struggling to build up this rapport with the Roland-Garros crowd,” Chris Stubbs said on Stan Sport’s Grand Slam Daily.
“He’s having some issues this year. Copping a bit of flak.”
Masur said that was partly because the crowd just wanted to see a good contest.
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“I mean, he won those first two sets six and six (in tie breaks),” Masur said.
“So he’s kind of under the pump from a tennis perspective. But yeah, he’s feeling the heat a little bit. I think chasing that No.23, you know, that record breaking number might be weighing heavily on him … do not rattle his cage.”
Varillas, from Peru, upset the 13th seed Hubert Hurkacz in five sets in the third round.
“The South Americans, they certainly understand how to play on clay,” Masur said.
“That’s the surface on which they learn their tennis … Hurkacz is just a really powerful player, but he’s certainly not a clay specialist.
“He’s probably more suited to the faster surfaces, but a big serve and a hard man to beat. So, Varillas is in form, but I think his tournament ends here.”
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Djokovic complained about his treatment some fans in his previous match.
“A majority of the people comes to enjoy tennis or support one or the other player. But they are individuals,” he said.
“There are people — there are groups or whatever — that love to boo every single thing you do. That’s something that I find disrespectful and I frankly don’t understand that.
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“But it’s their right. They paid the ticket. They can do whatever they want.”
Djokovic won at Roland-Garros in 2016 and 2021.
“It is more challenging than it was when I was younger,” Djokovic said.
“I don’t have an end in my head clear, but I still am capable to challenge all the best players in the world for grand slam titles. So how long that’s going to last?
“I don’t know, I really don’t know.”
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