World No. 1 Novak Djokovic only lost 25 games en route to the Roland Garros quarter-finals, a personal best. But 17th seed Pablo Carreno Busta took the first set from the Serbian on Wednesday evening 6-4.
From the moment Djokovic walked on the court it was noticeable that he had tape on his neck. And on several changeovers, the top seed massaged or attempted to make his left arm more comfortable. The 2016 champion uncharacteristically made 16 unforced errors and overused his drop shot in the first set before taking a medical timeout to get treatment on that arm.
Carreno Busta has taken full advantage, playing solid tennis and placing balls deep in the court to force Djokovic to beat him, which he hasn’t been able to do thus far. The Spaniard is trying to reach his first Roland Garros semi-final. He is a two-time US Open semi-finalist, advancing to the last four in New York last month.
Djokovic has won 15 of his past 16 major matches against Top 20 opposition, with his only loss coming in last year's Roland Garros semi-finals against Dominic Thiem. But he landed only 40 per cent of his first serves against Carreno Busta on Court Philippe-Chatrier, perhaps indicating issues with his service toss.
from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/2Gys9O0
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