Ons Jabeur agreed with several other stars who spoke out against late finishes in tennis as the Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist says Novak Djokovic finishing his French Open match after 3 AM local time was “unhealthy.”
After starting his French Open third-round match versus Lorenzo Musetti on Saturday night, Djokovic sealed a 7-5 6-7 (6) 2-6 6-3 6-0 win in a match that lasted four hours and 29 minutes and concluded at 03:08 AM local time.
While Djokovic didn’t want to throw the French Open organizers under the bus and criticize them in a harsh way, several top players came to the Serb’s defense.
On the men’s side, two-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz admitted he wouldn’t like to play his matches late – especially that late. Meanwhile, Casper Ruud wrote on X that he probably would not enjoy much playing at 1 AM.
On the women’s side, 2023 US Open champion US Open champion Coco Gauff said finishing so late was “unhealthy” while WTA world No. 1 Iga Swiatek said situations like that benefit no one and definitely don’t help a player.
Jabeur shares her thoughts on Djokovic’s late French Open finish
Jabeur, a former world No. 2, agrees with colleagues and their statements.
“I think it’s really unhealthy,” Jabeur said of Djokovic’s very late French Open finish.
“I hope Novak is recovering really well for the next one. But yeah, we are trying to push to have better scheduling. But, you know, when you have long matches sometimes you don’t know. Obviously with the prime matches it is also more difficult. I feel like 8.15 is really late to start the match.”
Meanwhile, Jabeur has been through to the French Open quarterfinal, where she plays against Gauff. So far this fortnight in Paris, Jabeur is having her best run of the year as for the first time this season she has won four consecutive matches.