Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic began the search for his 23rd Grand Slam title singles with a first-round victory over the American Aleksandar Kovacevic by 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 and 7-1.
He two-time Roland Garros champion he prevailed in the first two sets before running into resistance from the 24-year-old rookie, whose lack of experience showed in the third-set tiebreaker on the world’s biggest clay court.
Djokovic ended the contest with a brilliant return of service on his first match point and will face the veteran Hungarian Márton Fucsovics for a spot in the third round.
“It’s always a pleasure to come back here, one of the best tournaments in the world”said Djokovic, who debuted in Roland Garros in 2005. “I am very motivated to go far here, until the end, I hope.”
Djokovic He did not have an ideal preparation for the Clay court grand slammissing the Madrid Masters and being eliminated in the round of 16 in Rome, but he looked in good form in windy conditions.
on the track Suzanne Lenglen, the French Benoît Paire he was knocked out in five sets by Britain’s Cameron Norrie, the 14th seed. Paire, who received a wild card, was up a break in the deciding set but couldn’t close out the match.
In the women’s draw, two former runners-up caused a sensation
The Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova celebrated her return to Roland Garros with a dominating win over the Czech Linda Fruhvirtovaafter a knee problem made her fear for her career a year ago.
The 31-year-old enjoyed her best run in a grand slams in the 2021 tournament, when he reached the final, skipping last year’s edition as well as the second half of the season to recover from injury.
The American SLoane Stephens, runner-up at Roland Garros in 2018beat the former number one in the world Karolína Plíšková 6-0 and 6-4.
Although the American showed a good game on the court, she said that the racist abuse towards the players had worsened.
“Yes, obviously It’s been a problem my whole career.”Stephens said. “It has never stopped. In any case, it has only gotten worse.”
Source: Ambito
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
