Djokovic beats Pierre-Hugues Herbert, sails into second round of French Open

Paris: Ignore the straight-set score: Novak Djokovic was not quite at his impervious best in the first round of the French Open, and his 6-4, 7-6 (3), 6-4 win over Pierre-Hugues Herbert was not enough to alter the defending champion’s “low expectations” at this tournament.

“I don’t want to get too excited,” Djokovic said. “I thought it was a good performance for me. Solid. 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.”

It’s been a rougher-than-usual season so far for Djokovic, and while there were some signs of breaking out of his 2024 funk during the course of the contest at Court Philippe Chatrier, he still has room for improvement as he attempts to become the first player in tennis history to claim 25 Grand Slam singles trophies. There’s no doubt he cares about such things.

“Grand Slams are the ones that are basically getting me up from the bed every day. Knowing that I have to hit the practice courts, I always think about what I can do in Grand Slams,” he said. “So here I am. Hopefully I can have another deep run.”

That’s what Herbert expected to see.

“I knew, from the beginning,” Herbert said, “that I’m going to have in front of me the Novak of the Grand Slams.’ ... It’s just the intensity of concentration.”

Djokovic is a three-time title winner at Roland Garros who needs to return to the final to retain his No. 1 ranking. But he arrived in Paris without having done that at any tournament this year. He is 0-3 in semi-finals — including a loss last week at the lower-tier Geneva Open on red clay — and this victory across 2 1/2 hours only served to make his overall record 15-6.

So when he spoke at a news conference on Sunday, Djokovic described his mindset heading into the French Open this way: “Low expectations and high hopes.” Then he pointed out, “Anything but a title, for me, is not satisfactory,” which is understandable given his remarkable resume.

“In the moments when it mattered, I think I delivered. Played a great tiebreak. Stayed focused,” Djokovic said about Tuesday’s performance. “I’m glad that I started the way I started, the way I felt on the court. Comparing to the previous weeks of tournaments I played, I felt good. Better. So I’m moving in a positive direction. Yeah, it’s just the beginning.”

He seemed a bit edgy at moments against Herbert, a 33-year-old Frenchman who owns a career Grand Slam in doubles but never has been past the third round at any major in singles and is currently ranked 142nd. The home crowd tried to push Herbert, repeatedly calling out his name, even imploring him in English at one point by chanting.