The decision by the French Open to put Grigor Dimitrov’s unfinished match against Zizou Bergs on Court Philippe Chatrier before Djokovic and Musetti in the night session backfired.
That match, which was rained off on Friday, was moved to Chatrier when it looked like Alexander Zverev was going to wrap up a four-set victory against Tallon Griekspoor in the final match of the day session.
However, that went to five sets before Dimitrov, who restarted the match with a one-set advantage, needed four sets to beat Bergs.
It meant Djokovic and Italy’s Musetti, who should have started at 8:15pm local time, did not step on court until 10:37pm.
After sealing victory four-and-a-half hours later, Djokovic said he did not “want to get into” discussing the scheduling decision.
“I think some things could have been handled a different way but there’s also a beauty in winning a match [so late],” the 37-year-old Serb added.
“Physically, I really went to my limits to win this match.”
The French Open has been asked by BBC Sport for comment about the decision.
British doubles player Jamie Murray highlighted the knock-on effect of a late finish on a player’s recovery.
“You’re totally goosed the next day and then the day after that is a battle as well,” said Murray, whose brother Andy finished an Australian Open match last year at 4am.
“It won’t be easy for Novak to recover. It’s not like he’s 25 anymore.”
Djokovic, who plays Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo in the fourth round on Monday, was not down on the practice schedule for Sunday.