Novak Djokovic opened his 2026 Roland-Garros campaign on Sunday, May 25 with a four-set win over French qualifier Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, 5-7, 7-5, 6-1, 6-4. The first set went to the 22-year-old 6-foot-8 server on a tiebreakless break. Djokovic adjusted his return position by a step, broke twice in the second, and closed the match in two hours and 47 minutes on Court Philippe-Chatrier. It is his first match at Roland-Garros since reaching the 2025 semifinal, and the start of a slam in which a 25th major would put him alone at the top of the men's all-time list ahead of Margaret Court.
The Match
Mpetshi Perricard's serve produced 23 aces and seven double faults across the four sets — the volatility profile that makes him a Day 1 nightmare for any seed and a one-set ceiling for everyone else. Djokovic's tactical answer was to take the ball earlier on the backhand return and let his second-serve attack do the work; he won 64% of his second-serve return points across sets two through four. The third set was the cleanest version of the Djokovic clay-court template: 6-1, 28 minutes, zero break points faced.
The Rest of Day 1
Elsewhere in the men's draw, No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev beat home-crowd pick Benjamin Bonzi 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 with the heaviest backhand in the men's game producing 38 winners. No. 7 seed Taylor Fritz fell to American compatriot Nishesh Basavareddy in four sets — Basavareddy's first career win over a top-10 player and the first top-10 loss of the tournament. In the women's draw, No. 8 seed Mirra Andreeva advanced over Fiona Ferro 6-3, 6-3, while 2021 champion Barbora Krejcikova lost a near three-hour three-set match to No. 26 Hailey Baptiste.
The Stakes
Djokovic has not added a major since the 2023 US Open. Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, and now Mpetshi Perricard's generation each represent a closing window. Like Kimi Antonelli rewriting F1's young-driver record book, this season's slate of international sports is being decided by whether one veteran can hold off the youngest cohort to ever chase him. Djokovic's path to a 25th this fortnight runs through Sinner's draw quarter and Alcaraz's semifinal half. Round 2 is Wednesday against either Corentin Moutet or a Spanish qualifier.
Source: Roland-Garros · Bleacher Report
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