Home hope Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard saw his Roland Garros campaign come to an end in the first round when faced with Novak Djokovic.
Djokovic came back from a set down to beat Mpetshi Perricard in the first night session on Court Philippe Chatrier.
The Frenchman took the opener, was close to going within a set of a major upset, but the Serb prevailed to book his place in the second round, 5-7, 7-5, 6-1, 6-4.
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In the second round, Djokovic will take on either Joao Fonseca or Dino Prizmic, who defeated him at the Italian Open.
After the loss, Mpetshi Perricard’s coach, Greg Rusedski, reflected on the 22-year-old’s performance.
Greg Rusedski reacts to Novak Djokovic’s first-round win
Speaking in an episode of ‘Off Court with Greg‘, Rusedski said of Perricard: “I think the first two sets of the match he hits his spots really well.
“Then we had a little drop-off in the third and then he started hitting spots again in the fourth and also you got to remember, we played in the evening, so the later it goes in the evening the slightly slower it gets as well, which gives Novak a little bit more time.
“But you know, you got to give nothing but respect to Novak Djokovic, and by the end he was striking and anticipating where the ball was going.
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“I mean there was one forehand Gio hit which looked like about a hundred miles an hour, and Novak just deflected it up the line for a winner and we saw the emotion from which I think is on all the social medias.
“But from my point of view there are a lot of positives. We didn’t get what we wanted with the victory.
“Every time you play you want to try to win, but I feel every week the game’s getting better and we’ll get the results we want in the long term, I believe.”
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“I was watching his warm-up,” said Rusedski of Djokovic. “You know, you always watch as a coach what he’s doing.
“He’s having a few shoulder issues. There was the physio giving a massage and trying to sort it out. You know, he wasn’t hitting it so big in the beginning with the serve, but the accuracy was quite exceptional.
“The movement looked good by the end, and in the beginning it’s one of those tricky matches for Novak because he’s not getting a rhythm and you don’t want to give him a rhythm as much as possible and you keep them off balance.
“But by this third and fourth set he really raised his game and you know, he’s got another match coming up against a Frenchman who is not that well known to the public but then from the third round on it gets pretty tough.
“It’s either Fonseca or Prismic, who beat him in Rome. So, you know Novak is a funny sort of player where he can build into a slam and find his best tennis.
“So, you know you’d expect him to get through a second round, and then he’s gonna have another big test in the third round.”
Djokovic is seeded third at Roland Garros and is on the opposite side of the draw to overwhelming favourite Jannik Sinner.
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