Novak Djokovic hits 100 unforced errors, pushed to five sets in win over Gilles Simon
MELBOURNE, Australia – “I hate to say it, but you are absolutely right.”
That was Novak Djokovic’s response to a fan’s critique on Sunday evening after the world No. 1 and defending Australian Open champion hit 100 unforced errors in a match against Frenchman Gilles Simon, pushed to five sets Simon in their fourth round encounter inside Rod Laver Arena.
Interviewed on court after the victory, Djokovic asked the fan to yell out what he had again. “No more drop shots!” the fan yelled.
And Djokovic agreed.
Djokovic looked out of sorts for much of the four hour, 32-minute seesaw battle against Simon, the No. 14 seed whom he had beaten in nine out of a previous 10 meetings. Djokovic finally prevailed in this one, as well, 6-3, 6-7(1), 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.
It marked the first time in his career that Djokovic had hit triple-digits on the mistake mark. One-hundred unforced errors! One of the main contributing factors? Over a dozen missed drop shots throughout the match.
“Playing against a player like Gilles, he’s always making you hit a lot of shots, long rallies,” said Djokovic, a five-time champion here. “I made a lot of unforced errors today. Four and a half hours, it was a physically demanding match, so I’m happy to get through that one.”
Djokovic advances to his 27th consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal with the win, dating back to the French Open in 2009. He’ll face No. 7 seed Kei Nishikori there, a winner over another French player, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Djokovic looked prime to escape this match that was full of elongated rallies in the fourth set, but he was broken in the ninth game and then watched as Simon served it out.
Asked by Jim Courier for Australia’s Channel 7 after the match what he was telling himself as they headed for a fifth set, the Serbian stayed mum.
“You don’t want to know,” he replied, smiling.
Then came his exchange with the fan in the stands.
“What did you say?” Djokvic asked into Courier’s microphone.
“No more drop shots!” the fan yelled back
“I hate to say it, but you are absolutely right,” was Djokovic’s response.