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Christophe Ena
tantalising

Djokovic overcomes French Open taunts to close in on Nadal's grand slam record

The Serbian gave the perfect response with a 6-1 6-3 6-3 demolition of 15th seed Diego Schwartzman to book his place in the quarter-finals.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC WAS booed as he walked on to court and cupped his ear at a strangely-hostile crowd during his three-set win over Diego Schwartzman at the French Open.

Argentinian Schwartzman was clearly being backed by a large South American and Spanish contingent on Court Suzanne Lenglen.

But the jeering of the world number one and defending champion seemed excessive and even prompted Eurosport’s Alex Corretja to say: “I don’t like that.

“It’s Novak Djokovic. He has given us so much.”

But Djokovic gave the perfect response with a 6-1 6-3 6-3 demolition of the 15th seed to book his place in the quarter-finals.

The Serbian has yet to drop a set in the tournament as he bids for a record-equalling 21st grand slam title with Rafael Nadal.

The Spaniard could also be waiting in the last-eight for Djokovic.

“I have a lot of respect for him (Schwartzman). He’s a good person off the court,” said Djokovic who has now beaten Schwartzman seven times in seven meetings.

“I’ve made a good start but I have a lot of work to do,” added Djokovic who will face Nadal for the 10th time at Roland Garros and 59th overall if the Spaniard defeats Felix Auger-Aliassime later Sunday.

In an interesting twist, Auger-Aliassime has Nadal’s uncle and former long-time coach Toni working with him.

Toni coached his nephew for the best part of three decades during which time Nadal won 16 of his record 21 Slam titles.

When asked if he will divulge to Auger-Aliassime the secret of how to become just the third man to defeat Nadal at Roland Garros, the 61-year-old coach was unequivocal.

“Of course not. I told Felix that my ethics do not allow me to give him advice on beating my nephew. It’s as if I were telling someone how to defeat my own son,” said Toni ahead of his first meeting with Rafael since their split.

Toni said he would not sit in Auger-Aliassime’s player box for the match, taking his place instead in the presidential box on Court Philippe Chatrier.

Additional reporting by – © AFP 2022

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