PARIS — Even if Novak Djokovic is tennis’ man of the moment, there’s a long way to go before he’d approach most of Roger Federer’s many accomplishments.
So far to go, really, that it’s not worth discussing.
Still, there is one area in which, as of Wednesday, the two men are equal: Djokovic was credited with his 41st consecutive victory — matching the best streak of Federer’s career — when second-round opponent Victor Hanescu of Romania quit at the French Open because of a left leg injury.
“I’m not thinking about when this streak — this amazing streak — will end. So I guess that’s the right mental approach,” said the second-seeded Djokovic, who was serving at 6-4, 6-1, 2-3, 30-love when Hanescu quit.
It was a far quieter and less theatrical ending than what transpired a few hours later on Court 1. Sabine Lisicki of Germany was bothered by dizziness and muscle cramps and was carried off on a stretcher, sobbing, after wasting a match point and a 5-2 lead in the third set of a 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 loss to two-time Grand Slam finalist Vera Zvonareva of Russia. Lisicki was treated by a trainer — including a blood-pressure check — during changeovers.
“I hope she feels OK,” the No. 3-seeded Zvonareva said. “No matter what, I had to keep doing my job.”
In the third round Friday, Djokovic faces No. 25 Juan Martin del Potro, who won the 2009 U.S. Open and nearly beat Federer in the French Open semifinals that year.
Federer, seeded No. 3, improved his career second-round mark at Grand Slam tournaments to 42-0 by beating French wild-card entry Maxime Teixeira 6-3, 6-0, 6-2. Federer won 13 games in a row in one stretch.
“That’s when I started panicking,” Teixeira said.
