A slightly rusty Novak Djokovic made hard work of his first-round match but came through unscathed against wildcard Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 for his 93rd career win at Roland Garros.
The three-time winner in the French capital broke early to go 2-1 ahead and held throughout to take the first set 6-4 in 37 minutes. But the world number one has been in patchy form this year and was clearly searching for form during the match – sometimes appearing to move slowly sideways as well as not reacting well to drop shots. However, as he has shown throughout his career, he was clutch during key moments and won the points that mattered.
“I thought it was a good performance for me, solid,” said Dkojovic. “Of course I could have done better, I think, on return games, but also credit to him for serving very well, for changing things up, for seeing every time I would step back for second serve to give him a little bit different look – he would see that, he would come in.”
The second set went with serve until the tie-break where Djokovic took a 3-0 lead with the aid of an excellent wrong-footing backhand volley at the end of a gruelling 25-shot rally – which led to the first sustained fist pumps from the top seed. Herbert dumped a forehand in the net when 6-3 down and found himself two sets to love behind with a mountain to climb.
The third set also went with serve and contained some beautiful points, to the delight of the home crowd who tried to raise more support for Herbert. But the Frenchman lost the match on his seventh double fault, and only won 51% of points on second serve and was passed eighteen times overall. Still, he regularly troubled the Serbian with his kick serve and received praise for his efforts: “His kick is tremendous,” described Djokovic. “Honestly, one of the best kick serves I have faced. [He’s] very talented, mixing things up. He can come to the net, just very crafty with his hands.”
That high-bounce off the serve perhaps explained why the Djokovic return was not at its usual high standard, but even though the Serb was short of his customary ruthlessness, he still kept calm and composed himself for the key moments, particularly the second set tie-break which he won convincingly.
The 37-year-old, who slipped when chasing a drop shot in the final game and was inexplicably booed by the home crowd for taking his time dusting off the clay, revealed the importance of the Majors as his career nears its end: “Grand Slams are the ones that are basically getting me up from the bed every day and knowing that I have to hit the practice courts. I always think about what I can do in Grand Slams. So here I am. Hopefully I can have another deep run.”
Djokovic is surely going to improve as the tournament progresses. He managed 68% of first serves in and won an impressive 84% of those points as well as 73% of second serves. He ended the match with four aces and an excellent 79% of points whilst at net. Remarkably, he has now won every first-round match since 2011 in straight sets, and has not lost before the quarter-finals since 2010.
Afterwards, Djokovic also spoke about being courtside for Sunday’s first-round blockbuster between Rafael Nadal and Alexander Zverev: “I don’t recall last time I actually watched a set of any match live on that level, other than Davis Cup,” he said. “It was great. Iga was there, Alcaraz was there, and we all wanted to get a glimpse of the atmosphere, you know, of that possibly unique moment, that could be his last. But Rafa was a bit unlucky with the draw, because Zverev, he is in a great form, winning Rome, and he was serving extremely well. It’s tough to play Sascha when he’s feeling the ball so well. But it was great to watch.”
