Djokovic to open in Monte-Carlo against Davidovich Fokina
Novak Djokovic will kick off his Monte-Carlo campaign against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina after the Spaniard won his first-round match on Sunday.
Novak Djokovic at the Rolex Monte Carlo Masters in 2021
Image Credit: Antoine Couvercelle / Panoramic
Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz are on a collision course for the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters quarter-finals, but the world No. 1 will not be looking ahead to that matchup quite yet. After all, this is Djokovic’s first tournament since February and just his second of the season, so he will surely be taking it one match at a time and making no assumptions about reaching the quarters, semis, or even the title match.
The Serb’s first task will come in the form of Alejandro Davidovich Fokina after the world No. 45 defeated Marcos Giron 7-5, 6-3 on Monday. Davidovich Fokina broke serve a whopping five times in 11 return games to advance after one hour and 38 minutes of play.
Djokovic and Davidovich Fokina have already faced each other on two previous occasions. Unsurprisingly, the head-to-head series stands at 2-0 in favor of the 34-year-old. He prevailed 6-2, 6-1 at the 2021 Rome Masters and 6-3, 6-1 a few months later at the Tokyo Olympics.
Djokovic’s 2022 campaign has been abbreviated because of his unvaccinated status. He had his visa for Australian visa cancelled and therefore missed the season’s first Grand Slam and he was unable to enter the United States to play Masters 1000 events in Indian Wells and Miami.
