Novak Djokovic from Serbia plays a backhand back to the Filip Mriololic in Austria during their men’s hedgehog on day 7 of the French open tennis tournament at the court Philippe-Chatrier in the Roland-Garros Complex in Paris on 31 May 2025 (photo by Anne-Christine Poujoulat /)
Novak Djokovic passed Filip Mriolic to book his place in the last 16 in Roland Garros on Saturday, but the 24-way Grand Slam winner had to fight with the Champions League final for the attention of the audience in Paris.
The triple French open champion needed just over two hours to beat his 153rd Austrian opponent 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in the night session on Court Philippe Chatrier.
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Djokovic had previously made jokes that he did not want to play the late match at Center Court on Saturday, because it would happen that he would see Paris Saint-Germain on Inter Milan in the Champions League final in Munich.
Football fan Djokovic may have missed the majority of PSG’s 5-0 demolition of Inter, but the Serbian told reporters after his victory that the final felt his presence on the field in Paris.
“I don’t know if it was good for me to get this planned lock because it was interesting, the crowd really followed the (football) game,” said Djokovic.
“And I could hear it as soon as they (PSG) scored, and it was far too often that they celebrated. I had something like:” Wow, there are many goals from Paris “and” What’s going on? “.
“So now I heard that it is 5-0, so it’s quite a result to be honest,” added the AC Milan supporter.
Read: Djokovic says ‘no coach needed’ as French open looms
Djokovic told reporters that he was not sure how everyone would come home from Roland Garros, while the French capital was willing to celebrate his first Champions League title.
“It will be a whole journey, quite an adventure (coming home),” he joked. “But I think we have a long celebration and probably don’t sleep much tonight. So it’s a nice evening to be in Paris, I think!”
Although the referee is obliged to ask excited spectators to concentrate on the match that takes place for them, Djokovic was still able to keep his mind firmly focused on his search for a record -breaking 25th big title.
“Nine out of nine sets won (in the tournament). Again, tonight, solid when I had to,” he said.
“But the honor to have Filip to really come up with some great points, great photos and play really courageous tennis.
Read: Novak Djokovic says tennis will always survive his star players
“I think there is always something to improve, something to get better at, but in general I have to be satisfied with the level of tennis so far.”
The 38-year-old was confronted with just one breaking point, which he saved, while he only made 14 casual mistakes for 33 winners.
The sixth seed will be confronted with the 81st place Cameron Norrie for a place in the quarterfinals, after the former top 10 Brit had eliminated his countryman Jacob Fearnley.
Djokovic beat Norrie earlier this month in three sets on the red dirt in Geneva on the way to securing a century ATP titles.
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The semi -final victory extended its perfect record against Norrie to five victories of five.
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