Novak Djokovic shows true colours in 3am interaction with fan after French Open epic
Novak Djokovic melted a few hearts following his five-set victory Lorenzo Musetti after hopping the barricade and interacting with a young fan at courtside
Novak Djokovic melted a few hearts after an endearing interaction with a young fan following his win over Lorenzo Musetti. The Serbian advanced to the fourth round of the French Open after a thrilling five-set clash which ended at around 3am on Sunday morning.
After the match, the 37-year-old hopped over the barricade to speak to a group of spectators who'd stuck around for the entirety of the slog, which lasted a whopping four hours and 29 minutes, and a heartwarming embrace with a youngster ended up stealing the headlines.
Djokovic hugged the boy, Tom, and kissed him on the forehead and even handed him an autographed racket, thanks for staying up so late to catch all the action.
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A clip of the stirring moment was uploaded to social media, and Djokovic could be heard telling the youngster: "You need to sleep my friend. What are you still doing here? You are very young."
Speaking afterwards, Tom explained that the 24-time Grand Slam champion noticed him during the match, and made sure to catch up with him after the contest.
"At 4-4 in the first set, and while I kept cheering him on, he looked at me with his fist clenched... when the match was over, he told me to stay where I was and then he came," Tom told French outlet Le Parisien.
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"He gave me a jersey, a racquet and an autographed wristband. He said thank you very much twice, gave me a hug and then a kiss on the head. There was a lot of joy."
Tom's father, Franck, later heaped praise on Djokovic, insisting he had "every reason" to immediately head back to the locker room given how late it was.
"It was exactly 3:22 when Novak came to see Tom," he said. "He had every reason to return to the locker room quickly. But he came and that's beautiful because not all champions do that."
Up next for Djokovic is a fourth-round clash with Argentine Francisco Cerundolo, and victory there will set up a quarter-final tie with either Taylor Fritz or Casper Ruud.
Just three of Djokovic's 24 major titles have come at Rolland Garros, but his recent form in Paris is the best it has ever been, having lifted the cup twice in the last three years, though Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz remains the bookies' favourite.
