Paris. Serbia’s legendary tennis player Novak Djokovic made a great start to his challenge for a record 25th Grand Slam title, defeating France’s Giovanni Mpetshi Pericard 5-7, 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 late on Sunday night in the first round of the French Open 2026.
With this match, Novak Djokovic became the player to play the most 82 times in men’s singles Grand Slam matches. He left behind the record of Roger Federer of Switzerland. However, Djokovic did not appear to be in his best form in the beginning of this match played at Roland Garros.
French player Giovanni Mpetshi Pericard played brilliantly in the first set to take a lead of 6-5 and then clinched the set with a powerful ace. With this, he became the first player in 17 years to win a set from Djokovic in the first round of the French Open.
Djokovic said after the match,
“Congratulations to Giovani. I played against him for the first time and his serve was very difficult to read. I have seen such service from very few players in my career.”
Third seed Djokovic made a comeback in the second set and took advantage of the decisive opportunities and leveled the match. After this, the experienced Serbian player showed his aggressive game and won the third set easily.
In the fourth set, Giovanny Mpetshi Pericard had to seek treatment for wrist and hand problems. Although he continued to struggle, Djokovic took control of the match by leading 4–3 and won his 22nd consecutive French Open first round victory.
After the victory, Novak Djokovic greeted the audience and said, “The atmosphere here was great. I got a lot of energy from the audience.”
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