Schwartzman, against an intractable Djokovic

Djokovic has arrived in Paris with the intention of making up for the tortuous episode of the previous Grand Slam, the Australian Open, and his expulsion from that country due to the controversy over his visa and the covid vaccines.

For this reason, "Nole" has been unapproachable until now and in its first three matches of the tournament it has not given up a single set and has only lost 18 games.

The 35-year-old Serbian has exhibited a strong command of all facets of the game and has displayed his best tennis to successively get rid of the Japanese Yoshihito Noshioka, the Slovakian Alex Molcan and the Slovenian Aljaz Bedene with equal ease.

On the other hand, the path of the Argentine (29 years old) has been somewhat more bumpy, since in the first round he needed four sets to overcome the Russian Andrey Kuznetsov, a modest player from the previous phase.

Afterwards, the "Peque" could only defeat the Spanish Jaume Munar (87th in the world) in five sets, a match that became very complicated for him and ended in 2-6, 6-7 (3), 6-2 , 6-2 and 6-2.

On the other hand, the Argentine recovered his best tennis in his third round duel, curiously against the theoretically strongest opponent, the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov (21st player in the world), whom he dispatched more comfortably in three sets (6-3, 6- 1 and 6-2).

So far, Schwartzman has lost all six meetings with the world number one. On the only time they met at Roland Garros, in 2017, Djokovic needed five sets to defeat him.

"I'm going to have to serve harder and closer to the lines because he is one of the best returners in the world, and he has a great serve," the Argentine predicted about how he saw his duel against "Nole", in statements yesterday after their match. before Munar.

Furthermore, he acknowledged that he will need to give his best, at all levels, to have a chance against his impressive rival: «In five sets you have to be very prepared physically and mentally. "It's not a joke to play for three or four or five hours, you have to work your body for a long time."

For his part, Djokovic recognizes that the Argentine will be a tougher opponent than those he has faced so far in Paris: "He is one of the fastest on the circuit, his best results have been on clay, he is a tough opponent and we already played very good matches on different surfaces. "I'm ready for physical battle."

Asked about his relentless tennis after his display in the third round match against Bedene, he acknowledged that "perfection does not exist", although he noted that he always tries to "get closer" to it.

"Playing aggressively, as is my trait, is not always possible, but today I was really very good," he noted very clearly and without false modesty.

Schwartzman, who reached his best moment in 2020, when he reached the semifinals of Roland Garros and rose to number 8 in the world ranking, will have to overcome that gigantic obstacle to try to regain that level. EFE