Novak Djokovic on French Open QF win: "You’re not going to have victories handed to you, got to earn them"

Novak Djokovic expressed satisfaction in coming through a hard-fought French Open contest against Karen Khachanov.

Djokovic was in action on Court Philippe-Chatrier on Tuesday, June 6, taking on Khachanov in the Roland Garros quarterfinals. It wasn't an easy ride for the Serbian, as he did not earn a single break point in the opening two sets.

The former World No. 1 had fought from a set down and won the second in a tie-break before registering a 4-6, 7-6(0), 6-2, 6-4 triumph.

In his on-court interview after the win, Djokovic praised Khachanov for giving him a tough contest and stated that there are no easy matches in the business end of Grand Slams.

“His quality of tennis. I think he was the better player for most of the two sets. I was struggling on the court to find my rhythm and made a lot of unforced errors. Came into the match quiet slow, quiet sluggish. Played the perfect tiebreak really. From that moment onwards, I think I played a couple of levels higher than I did in the beginning,” he said.

“A little bit of [a] scare at the end of the fourth set but I managed to win eight points in a row to finish it out,” he added. “It’s a big fight, it’s something you expect quarterfinals of a Grand Slam, you’re not going to have your victories handed over to you, you got to earn them. So I'm just glad to overcome the big challenge today.”

Djokovic also shed light on his tactics against Khachanov, stating that he targeted the Russian's lack of mobility to come through the contest.

“Against players like Karen who is very aggressive, has a big serve, maybe doesn't move as well. So, I tried to expose him, try to play quite unpredictable. A lot of drop shots, change the length, and so forth. It worked in the end, it was a big fight, it always is,” he explained.

Novak Djokovic sets Open Era tie-break record

Novak Djokovic's 7-0 second-set tie-break win against Karen Kachanov was his fifth tie-break win at the 2023 French Open. He had earlier won tie-breaks against Aleksandar Kovacevic (first round), Marton Fucsovics (second round), and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (twice in the third round).

In the five tie-breaks at the Paris Major this year, Djokovic has outscored his opponents 35-12, hitting 13 winners and not making a single unforced error.

In career tie-breaks, the Serbian is now 307-162 (65.5%), which sees him replace Roger Federer (65.4%, 466-247) at the top in the all-time Open Era list.

World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz and fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas square off in another quarterfinal later on Tuesday, with the winner facing Novak Djokovic in the last four.