Novak Djokovic survived a first-round French Open scare on Court Philippe-Chatrier on Monday, recovering from a set down to defeat 22-year-old French wild card Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in two hours and 41 minutes. The 24-time Grand Slam champion, playing his first competitive match since pulling out of Rome two weeks ago with a knee complaint, looked uncharacteristically loose in the opening exchanges before clawing his way back into a contest that threatened to spiral into one of the most unlikely upsets of his career.
Mpetshi Perricard, ranked 38th in the world and one of the biggest servers on tour at 6ft 8in, fired 28 aces past Djokovic and clocked his fastest delivery at 232 km/h. For long stretches the Frenchman, roared on by a partisan Parisian crowd, looked like the more dangerous player. But Djokovic, as he has done so often across two decades on tour, found the level he needed at the moments that mattered.
Rust, returns and a familiar response
Djokovic’s first set was littered with the kind of errors that have crept into his game with increasing frequency this season. He was broken in the seventh game after a tame backhand into the tramlines, won just 38% of points on his second serve, and conceded the set with a double fault. The Serb shook his head towards his coaching box, where Andy Murray watched on impassively in his first Grand Slam appearance as Djokovic’s coach since their partnership was extended through the clay swing.
The turnaround began on return. Having read just two of Mpetshi Perricard’s first-serve patterns in the opener, Djokovic edged forward inside the baseline from the second set onward, taking the ball earlier and shortening the Frenchman’s reaction time at the net. The break came in the sixth game of the second set when Mpetshi Perricard, perhaps unsettled by the new geometry, missed a forehand approach long.
“I knew the first set was going to be tough because he serves like nobody else on this tour,” Djokovic said in his on-court interview. “I had to find a way to make him play one more ball. That’s all it is sometimes — one more ball.”
A draw that does not get any easier
Victory pushes Djokovic into a second-round meeting with Corentin Moutet, the mercurial French left-hander who beat Australian qualifier Tristan Schoolkate in straight sets earlier in the day. Moutet has won two of his last three matches against top-10 opponents on clay and will again have the home crowd behind him on Wednesday.
Looking further into the draw, Djokovic’s projected path is brutal even by Roland Garros standards:
- Third round: a potential meeting with American 24th seed Tommy Paul
- Fourth round: a possible rematch with Australian Open conqueror Jiri Lehecka
- Quarter-finals: a likely collision with third seed Alexander Zverev, who has beaten Djokovic in two of their last three meetings on clay
- Semi-finals: Carlos Alcaraz, the defending champion, sits in the same half
Jannik Sinner, the world number one, is on the opposite side of the bracket. For Djokovic to claim a record-extending 25th major, he would almost certainly need to beat Alcaraz and Sinner in successive matches — something no man has done at a single Slam since the Spaniard’s emergence in 2022.
What it means for the rest of the fortnight
At 38, Djokovic is no longer the metronome who once made first weeks at Slams feel like training drills. He has won just one title this season, the Geneva 250 last week, and has not reached a Grand Slam final since defending his Olympic gold at this venue in August. The knee that required surgery after his 2024 French Open withdrawal has held up, by his own admission, “85%” through the early months of the year.
The Murray appointment, announced before the Australian Open in January, was supposed to add tactical sharpness against the new generation. Monday offered glimpses — the mid-match adjustment on return position bore Murray’s fingerprints — but also reminders that the raw materials Djokovic is working with have changed.
Mpetshi Perricard, for his part, will leave Paris with credit. The Frenchman has now taken a set off Djokovic in both of their meetings this year and is expected to break into the top 30 when the new rankings are published next Monday. He embodies the wave of heavy-serving 20-somethings — alongside Ben Shelton, Holger Rune and Arthur Fils — who are slowly closing the gap on the old guard.
For Djokovic, the message from round one was clear enough. The legs still work. The head still works. But the margins, after 20 years, are thinner than they have ever been.
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
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