Novak Djokovic arrives in Paris to defend his French Open title and he has good reason to doubt himself. His form has been dire and his support team has changed dramatically, with the 98-time ATP champion not even reaching a final this season.
But he’s still Djokovic, still the best player in the world over the last 52 weeks, which means his mere presence marks him out as one of the tournament favorites and a real force to be reckoned with. Djokovic began his title defense in the French capital on Tuesday night, defeating French wild card Pierre Hugues 6-4, 7-6(3), 6-4 after a hard-fought battle. Herbert, moving on to the second round.
It’s not always easy. In front of a packed, partisan crowd cheering wildly for his players, Djokovic struggled to bring out his best tennis on Herbert’s serve, while the Frenchman served well and used his wicked kicks Serving and finding the net kept Djokovic at bay.
“Monte Carlo, Rome and Geneva started very well for me,” Djokovic said. “The first game I played was great. Then the second game and the third game were completely different. So I don’t want to get too excited.
“I thought it was a good performance for me, solid. Of course, I think, on the return side, I can do better, but also credit to him serving well, he changed The thing, seeing me step back every time on the second serve, you know, give him a little different look, he’ll see that and he’ll come in.
While Djokovic was far from his best, making too many unforced errors on both baseline shots in the second set, he was sharper in the decisive moments. After 5-6 in the second set, Djokovic scored 9 of 10 points in a row, established a 5-1 lead in the tie-break, and easily won the first set. He struggled to break Herbert’s serve throughout the set, but eventually the Frenchman’s resistance wore off and he double-faulted on match point to seal the match.
The tournament marks Djokovic’s first Grand Slam appearance since splitting with long-time coach Goran Ivanisevic, and joins former doubles No. 1 Nenad Zimonjic on the ATP Tour After the match, he traveled to the Paris Center in Belgrade with Boris Bosnjakovic, who served as Djokovic’s tennis coach.
Djokovic tried to get into match play and rhythm last week in Geneva, but his semi-final loss to Tomas Machak added more question marks over the current level of his game. Before the game, Djokovic described his approach to the game as “low expectations but high hopes,” but also noted that he was here to win.
“I’m almost embarrassed to say what I expect. For me, anything other than a title is unsatisfactory,” he said. “So it’s always been that way. I know, that may sound arrogant to a lot of people, but I think my career can back that up.
Now that he’s competing, as usual, his goal will be to build up his form and get into the tournament in time to face stronger opponents in the coming rounds. Djokovic will next face Spaniard Roberto Cabares Baena, a natural clay court player who will try to test Djokovic in a long and grueling match. patience.
Having had his drive and energy questioned numerous times during some of this year’s matches, Djokovic said that as his attention turned to round two, he was particularly pleased with his performance throughout the victory: ” Again, it’s just a game,” he said. “So we’ll have to see and see how I progress in my game and how my feelings evolve, but it’s good. You know, I’m keeping my fists, I’m focused, I’m there, I’m present. So I’m at least confident that I’m in Feeling good about the performance or the mentality on the court is what I’m looking for, where would you feel like that if not in the majors?
“So that’s something I’ve been saying since the beginning of the year and the last few years, the majors are basically what make me get out of bed every day and know I have to go to the practice range.”
