PARIS: Novak Djokovic shut down three questions during Friday evening's post-match press conference at Roland Garros. The answers were brief, but revealing in what they refused to say. When asked if he would return to Roland Garros next year, Djokovic replied, "I don't know." Asked if it would be okay if that was his last match, he again said, "I don't know." A third question about whether his mind began to think about the rest of the tournament with Carlos Alcaraz sidelined and Jannik Sinner losing was met with a sharp, "I don't care. I'll stop you right there."
The 24-time Grand Slam champion had little appetite for the questions. They were direct and uncomfortable, much like the challenge he had faced on court in the French Open third round against 19-year-old Joao Fonseca. For long stretches, Djokovic appeared in control, leading by two sets and later holding a 3-1 advantage in the deciding fifth set. Even deep in the match, in the fourth set, he seemed poised to regain command at 4-3 and holding two break points at 15-40.
This is just the second time he has lost a match from two sets up. His only previous defeat was in the 2010 Roland Garros quarterfinals, when he lost to Jurgen Melzer. In the fifth hour of a Grand Slam match, body and mind are rarely separate forces. As Djokovic's legs grew heavier, the certainty that had underpinned his tennis began to disappear. For all the questions about the durability of a 39-year-old body, Friday's defeat to Fonseca felt like a match lost in the mind as much as the muscles. That was the wound Djokovic carried into his post-match press conference.
Fonseca, who had 11 aces in the match, five of them in the fifth set, said, "When I won the fourth set, I was already tired. The fifth set was all heart. I couldn't even think. I was just trying to go." Both men were tired. Even so, only one of them was 39. Djokovic, playing only his fourth tournament of the year, said, "Considering I was injured for three months and trying to come back, going pretty much straight into a Grand Slam on this surface that is very demanding and, for me, takes more time to find my groove. When I look back at the important moments, could I have done something different? You know, you can always say, yes, but you just have to say, well done to him."
