"Novak Djokovic is even aggressive to defend" - Juan Pablo Varillas

Novak Djokovic stormed into the quarterfinals of the 2023 French Open following a comfortable win over Peru's Juan Pablo Varillas on Sunday. Irrespective of the result, the Peruvian only had words of praise for the Serb.

Following a handful of top performances in the French Open, Varillas reached the fourth round with the help of wins against Shang Juncheng, Roberto Bautista Agut, and Hubert Hurkacz.

Locking horns against the 22-time Grand Slam winner, the Peruvian suffered a loss in straight sets, with the scoreline reading 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 in favor of the Serb. Novak Djokovic rendered another dominant display of his on-court prowess and firmly established himself as the man to beat in Paris this week.

After the match, the 27-year-old was congratulated for his 2023 French Open campaign at his press conference. The acclaim was followed by a series of questions, where the Peruvian was asked about his experience of facing Djokovic.

Answering the questions, Juan Pablo Varillas heaped praise on the 22-time Grand Slam champion. The 27-year-old said that the two-time Roland Garros winner has the ability to always be on the ball, to the point that he could be aggressive even when defending.

"No, his ability to be, like, always in the ball, you know, in the ball with the legs and the defense. He is even aggressive to defend. It's like with one ball you are being aggressive, aggressive, and then with one ball he turns, like, the coin the other way, and then you are defending." Juan Pablo Varillas said.

Adding to what he said, the Peruvian also asserted that Djokovic can change the rhythm of the game and called the 36-year-old 'a really complete player'.

"It's also his ability to play so deep, to return so good also, to change the rhythms playing really high balls and then going forward. It's like a really complete player." He added.

"Maybe he was too solid from the baseline" Juan Pablo Varillas on Novak Djokovic

2023 French Open - Day Eight

After the fourth-round loss against Novak Djokovic at the 2023 French Open, Juan Pablo Varillas was asked about the main weapon that the Serb used against him in order to triumph.

The Peruvian replied, saying that Djokovic was really solid from the baseline as he was playing close to the lines. As a result, he asserted that he was not able to defend well against the World No. 3, a trait which had come in handy in Paris until then.

"Maybe he was too solid from the baseline, playing really close to the lines, serving really high percentage of first serves. I couldn't do that. Also, I couldn't defend the way I was defending the other days. He was very precise when he had the opportunities to break." Varillas added.

Novak Djokovic has reached his 17th quarterfinal at Roland Garros following his win over Varillas, breaking Rafael Nadal's record in the process.