@SportsHorn
If Novak Djokovic can win the French Open this year he will become the first man in the open era to win the career Grand Slam twice. He took another step in the right direction in the second round with a relatively smooth 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 win over Joao Sousa.
Djokovic took control early breaking the World No. 59 in his first service game. He then broke again to go up 4-0 and ended up winning the first set in just 29 minutes.
In the second set, Djokovic was again able to capitalize on some poor play by Sousa and broke early to go up 2-1. Sousa did manage to break back in the following game but the defending champion at Roland-Garros immediately broke back again much to the chagrin of his opponent who let out a scream in frustration. Djokovic went on to win the set 6-4.
In the third, Djokovic didn’t have much trouble although he did show some frustration throwing his racquet to the ground in the fifth game. Shortly thereafter he appeared to tweak his back chasing down a Sousa overhead but it didn’t appear to affect him the rest of the way. The Serb finished with 34 winners, converted 6 of 14 break points and won 80 percent of points on his first serve.
“Great first set, pretty much done everything I wanted,” said the 12 time Grand Slam champion. “Midway second set until maybe midway third set, that’s where I allowed him to believe more that he can get back into the match, and he started playing better. I felt like maybe I took off the foot from the gas a little bit. The way I ended the match and last couple of games was positive. The way I started, as well. Generally, I felt better than the first round, so that’s exactly what I wanted.
Djokovic has now won all four career meetings against Sousa failing to drop a single set. He will now face Argentine Diego Schwartzman in the next round. Schwartzman, ranked 41st in the world is into the third round of a major for the first time.
“I still have a great passion for this sport and being committed to it is crucial for me to even have a chance to play on the highest level. I need to be committed, which I am,” Djokovic said. “I think I reached the stage of my life where I just need to find always new ways of motivating myself, inspiring myself, and having Agassi on board and doing some changes is definitely bringing me that. ”
