Novak Djokovic overcomes almighty scare to win five-set epic against Francisco Cerundolo as defending champion reaches French Open quarter-finals

Even by the standards of tennis’s greatest escapologist, this was something special. Novak Djokovic was padlocked in a steel coffin and buried beneath the seabed, but still emerged.

In plain English, he was hampered by a knee injury and trailed two sets to one and a break in the fourth to Argentine No. 23 seed Francisco Cerundolo. And yet in the end he did what he has done now: a record 370 times at the Grand Slams: he won.

What a way this was to get past Roger Federer’s total of 369 major wins. After his comeback at 3:07 am against Lorenzo Musetti in the third round came this, a shattering of all sporting and medical logic.

At four hours and 39 minutes, it was his longest match ever at the French Open.

The world number 1 received treatment on his right knee several times from the start of the second set and his freedom of movement was significantly limited.

Djokovic felt the court was uneven and not up to standards. He seemed to blame the surface for his injury.

He called on Supervisor Wayne McKewan to respond to his complaints. “I asked and the groundsman said the court is normal for them,” McKewan said.

‘For them?! But you are a supervisor, you represent us players. I say to you as a player that it is not okay and that you go along with the grounds people who never play tennis.’

“They are the ones who maintain the courts, look after them and make sure they are consistent across the site.”

“They know better than I do whether the court is good or not?”

“I’m not saying that.”

“That’s what you said!”

“I say keep them consistent across the site.”

‘Ridiculous. Completely ridiculous.’

Even in the first set, which he won 6-1, Djokovic looked distracted, irritable and – tellingly – dissatisfied with the surface of the court. It was the uneven clay that he later seemed to blame for the injury, although it was possible that it was an existing problem that was being exacerbated.

Trailing 1-2 while serving, Djokovic took a medical timeout in the second set and received extensive treatment on his right knee. He had more work in the same area during the next two changes and another timeout at the end of the third set.

After the first medical timeout, Djokovic was under fire for the rest of the second set. Although he couldn’t get a sniff of Cerundolo’s serve, he saved eight break points himself. It was the tennis equivalent of playing for penalties: if he could get to 6-6, there was a feeling that Djokovic’s tiebreak witchcraft might just get him through.

But with the promised land in sight and Cerundolo seemingly unable to deliver the killing blow, Djokovic gave him the chance at 5-6.

It would have been criminal if Cerundolo had lost that set, but winning it seemed to reassure him. In the first set it felt like he was playing against Novak Djokovic; in the second he was too preoccupied with confronting an injured opponent; in the third set he played normally.

With so many break points and Djokovic not getting close to his own serve, it felt essential for Cerundolo to win that set.

In the third set, Djokovic’s feelings that the universe was conspiring against him will not have been assuaged by the sight of three net-cord winners in his opponent’s favor in the first four games.

That helped Cerundolo take a 4-1 lead. The 25-year-old managed to find a nice balance between his normal aggressive play and making a hobbled opponent run.

Meanwhile, Djokovic’s movements became increasingly worse.

The backhand seemed to be the shot he had the most trouble with, which is not surprising as it requires all the weight to be placed on the right knee, while the forehand can be hit with a more even weight balance.

Normally on drop shots he is like a panther chasing his prey; here he looked more like someone jogging to a bus.

And when he was pulled wide to the forehand, he was unable to push off his right knee to recover his position; often rallies ended with Cerundolo hitting the ball into the open court while Djokovic was stranded on the other side.

Almost every move there was a suspicion that he would pack it in, but we’ve seen this film before with Djokovic; Many times he has looked like a broken man before rising from his sickbed to claim victory.

Leading 4-3 with a break of serve, Cerundolo played a poor game that gave Djokovic the crack, the glimmer of light he needed.

It looked like a hammer horror movie where the lying monster suddenly opened its eyes. Djokovic roared to the crowd as he won the set 7-5 and then shook his racket with grim determination as he took a 2-0 lead in the fifth.

Cerundolo immediately broke back and then Djokovic took a nasty, heavy fall: “Well done, well done, you know better than us, it’s not smooth at all,” he said sarcastically.

Nevertheless, Djokovic moved better than he has since the first set. Once the equation was simplified to having to win just one set, it was always likely that he would be able to control the pain enough to give himself a chance.

At 3-3 in the fifth, he hit a full-strength volley that left him face down on the clay; he did the flying airplane arms, just to bring a little levity to an atmosphere buzzing with tension.

Leading 4-3 with a break point, Djokovic sent a forehand winner to the line – or just past it? The referee came to check the mark and extended her hand flat: in.

Djokovic would never be denied serving for the match again. He comfortably achieved the 370th – and perhaps the most remarkable – Grand Slam victory of his life.