Novak Djokovic is on the hunt for Grand Slam title number 25 at the French Open and he’s avoided a first-round exit.
The Serbian legend of the tennis world came through in comprehensive fashion against Mackenzie McDonald, winning three sets by a 6-3 scoreline.
Djokovic tuned up for the Roland Garros event by entering the ATP 250 event in Geneva, winning the final against Hubert Hurkacz in three sets.
Djokovic hasn’t won a Grand Slam title since the US Open in 2023, and naturally, that led to some reservations over his chances of winning the French Open.
Andy Roddick already feels foolish over Novak Djokovic prediction
Roddick did a prediction show ahead of the French Open and he made quite the claim about Djokovic’s chances.
When predicting the entire draw, he chose Djokovic and Francisco Cerundolo to meet in the quarter-final, with the Argentine performer coming through against the serial Grand Slam winner.
Cerundolo succumbed to a first-round exit, however, and Roddick has admitted he feels awfully silly.
He said on the Served podcast: “I want to say something out front. We do the draw show and it’s before Novak has played his second round in Geneva. I want to very clearly say that I am an idiot. Very clearly. No questions asked.
“Novak, having won a 250 going in, is a different animal from Novak not having played in two or three weeks going in. I just have this feeling he is going to make a deep run now. Looked great today against Maccie McDonald, but the big thing was getting all the matches in Geneva.
“Our boy Cerundolo – I never feel much shame about my picks. It’s fun, we are just guessing, I probably know a bit more than most people watching, hopefully, but it went really bad for us really early with that one. And Novak looks like he is going to make us look even dumber than we are.”
Djokovic can’t be discounted at the French Open
Given what he’s achieved in the game, the player can’t be discounted from winning any tournament that he enters.
However, the chances of him winning the French Open do feel remote, given that he will likely have to overcome Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz if he’s to get his hands on the trophy.
Djokovic will be desperate to win one more big title before he calls time on his career and joins the other two members of the big three in retirement.
The draw has arguably already opened up with Cerundolo going out of the tournament and now it will be intriguing to see how Djokovic holds up as the competition progresses.
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