“I wouldn’t say (Novak was) playing incredible tennis, but…” : takeaways on Djokovic’s first rounds at Roland-Garros 2023
Despite entering Roland-Garros with a potential elbow injury and little match play, Novak Djokovic has won his first three matches in straight sets. We look at what this means for the 22-time Grand Slam champion moving forward in the tournament.
(AI/Reuters/Panoramic)
When speaking in his post-match press conference, Stefanos Tsitsipas had this to say about Novak Djokovic’s Roland-Garros 2023 campaign so far:
“I feel like Novak Djokovic has been doing very well in terms of his Grand Slam appearances. He has been starting Grand Slams, I wouldn’t say playing incredible tennis, but just enough to get him through in the first few rounds.”
With three rounds down now, how is the 22-time Grand Slam champion looking on the Paris clay?
An imperfect lead up to Roland-Garros in 2023 for Djokovic
Heading into Roland-Garros 2023, Novak Djokovic was appearing more vulnerable than he has in a long time.
Part of this was because vaccine restrictions yet again denied Djokovic the opportunity to play in the Sunshine Double. This meant that despite winning both Adelaide and the Australian Open, the 36-year-old arrived on the European clay without much recent tennis.
Djokovic’s lack of tennis was compounded by a reoccurring elbow injury, which meant he was only able to participate in three clay events prior to Roland-Garros. Of these, he lost early twice—in Monte-Carlo and Banja Luka—with his deepest run a quarter-final in Rome.
For a player who traditionally takes longer than average to get accustomed to the nuances of playing on clay, Djokovic arrived at Roland-Garros with far less match play under his belt than he would have liked.
Balance of challenge and conservation for Djokovic in early rounds of Roland-Garros 2023
If Novak Djokovic’s team were able to script the first three rounds of Roland-Garros, it would be hard to see them writing it any different to how the past six days have unfolded.
To date, Djokovic’s Roland-Garros campaign has been a perfect balance of conserving energy, being tested, and of course, winning. In his opening round, the former world No 1 faced American Aleksandar Kovacevic. Djokovic made light work of the No 114 ranked player, winning 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (1) for a second-round berth.
In his second and third-round matches, the Serbian received much sterner tests. He played one of the longest sets of the year against Marton Fucsovics in the second round, gritting out a 7-2 tiebreak, before accelerating 6-0, 6-3 to win in two hours, 44 minutes. Against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Novak was again taken to tiebreak, winning consecutive breakers before running away 6-2 in the third for a 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5), 6-2 win.
With a round of 16 spot booked, Djokovic has spent just under nine hours on court without dropping a set.
Djokovic passes early tests with flying colours
All signs from Novak Djokovic are encouraging so far at Roland-Garros 2023.
He has spent a good number of hours on the court, and is beginning to find his rhythm—an opportunity that he did not have prior to the Grand Slam this year. This is a critical element of the Serbian’s campaign, and he will be pleased to have spent this time getting used to the conditions.
There have also been several hard tests for Novak across the first three rounds. Marton Fucsovics and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina firing on all cylinders is no joke, and yet when it counted, Djokovic was able to elevate his game and win the big points.
The fact that Djokovic has won four out of four tiebreakers at Roland-Garros 2023 is very encouraging sign for how locked in the Serb has been so far. Add this to the fact that he’s not had to play any drawn out five set matches yet, and Djokovic is perfectly balanced heading into week two of the Grand Slam.
As Stefanos Tsitsipas said, “I wouldn’t say (Novak was) playing incredible tennis, but just enough to get him through in the first few rounds.”
More of the same for Djokovic before potential Alcaraz showdown
Looking ahead to Novak Djokovic’s round of 16 and potential quarter-final opponents, the Serbian has a perfect chance to continue building momentum before the crunch matches later in the week.
Next up Djokovic faces world No 94 Juan Pablo Varillas, who has played three consecutive five set matches. It’s tough to see the world No 3 not winning this one, and it should be a fairly routine victory at that.
Prospective quarter-final match ups for Djokovic are either Lorenzo Sonego, or Karen Khachanov. Against Sonego, Djokovic holds a 1-1 head-to-head, while with Khachanov he leads 8-1. Either one of these matches would be no walkover, but also do not possess the game play to genuinely threaten Djokovic, unless he has an off-day.
On the other side of this, Djokovic would face a likely semi-final against world No 1 Carlos Alcaraz.
In what would be quite possibly the most awaited game of the year, chances are Novak Djokovic will enter with a near-perfect build up, having been tested, but not worn out across the first five rounds of Roland-Garros 2023.
