Novak Djokovic will begin his French Open title defense and his first slam bid of the 2022 season on Monday against Yoshihito Nishioka. American Sebastian Korda will also be in first-round action against John Millman.
(1) Novak Djokovic vs. Yoshihito Nishioka
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic will play his first Grand Slam match of the year in Paris on Monday. night. The Serb was deported from Australia just before his first-round match there, a consequence of his refusal to get the COVID vaccine. Djokovic had a rocky start to the season, with lackluster performances and no titles until a week ago at the Rome Masters. Fortunately for the 35-year-old, he looked much more like the reigning French Open champion in his capture of the title at the Italian Open.
It’s a good thing, too. Djokovic’s draw is brutal in Roland Garros. He landed in the same quarter of the draw as Rafael Nadal and the same half as Carlos Alcaraz. If he goes on to win a third French Open title, he will have to work hard for it.
Djokovic’s opening opponent is world No. 99 Yoshihito Nishioka. This should be a favorable matchup for the world No. 1. Nishioka hasn’t won a main-draw match on clay yet in 2022; he lost in the first round of qualifying in his last three European clay events.
Cheryl pick: Djokovic in 3
Ricky pick: Djokovic in 3
(27) Sebastian Korda vs. John Millman
American Sebastian Korda has been all over the board in 2022; the world No. 30 had a semifinal showing in Estoril, where he lost a heartbreaker to countryman Frances Tiafoe. He is the only player to beat Alcaraz on clay this year, but he also lost in the first round of Barcelona to world No. 94 Carlos Taberner. Consistent, he is not.
Australia’s John Millman has seen his ranking drop to 91st. He has even dipped his toe back in the waters of the Challenger circuit earlier this month, losing in the quarters in Mauthausen. Millman has been forced to qualify for a majority of his tour-level events this season.
Korda has struggled closing out victories in 2022. On numerous occasions, including in Indian Wells against Rafael Nadal and in Estoril against Tiafoe, the American failed to serve out the match. Provided he doesn’t struggle with nerves, this should be a comfortable win for Korda. He is a good clay-courter, moves well for a man of his size, and he has had a previous round of 16 result in Paris.
Cheryl pick: Korda in 3
Ricky pick: Korda in 4
WWW?
Nishioka in 2. 😉
Just kidding. I don’t do predictions but I can’t see Nishioka winning this one.
Gosh to have ure opening match against the #1 AND the defending champion is really unfortunate!!!! It”s like what’s the point in even showing up, lol?!! But it is the game I suppose!
Nishioka is teh poor man’s Djokovic.
So Novax gets loudly booed for celebrating winning some points with his customary howl! 😀
By his standards he was pretty restrained.
Hoping the RG crowd is getting some practice for when he plays Rafa!!
I don’t remember them booing him before so maybe he isn’t flavour of the month with them?
I certainly think booing him for practically no reason is an excellent strategy….Allez!!😀
I saw it. Very unseemly behaviour of Djoker. I think the crowd are bored of sitting in a night session watching Djokovic vs a pastiche of Djokovic. One Djokovic is more than enough.
:sigh:
As a Djokovic fan I would like to highlight the ridiculous cheap shots above ,from some of the same people who complain about the anti-Rafa trolls on here.
Agree with you Al.
The double standards on this forum are embarrassing.
The coward Anonymous is embarrassing.
Relax and go and feed your cats…
what don’t you tell us your real name, instead of ‘Nativenewyorker’, coward.
https://twitter.com/eurosport/status/1528831384076304385?s=20&t=ijhJXcE_mIWOZYnGsl9xJw
The RG crowd are notorious
No, Novak is just unleashing the tremendous pressure he’s under as the favorite knowing that he has possibly Rafa and Alcaraz to face with perhaps a few dark horses in between. Contrary to popular belief he doesn’t always handle pressure well double faulting at critical points like at match point and sometimes darn right underperforming like at USO against medvedev. I c the same thing happening here, he might be playing well but he has a lot going on in his head, like not quite feeling in top form, wanting to get to 22 and having to do it at RG like Rafa did it at AO, except having to beat Rafa to do it!! He knows it will be a very tall order even if Rafa is not 💯 but yet still he may have doubts about how possible it is to beat Rafa twice in a row at RG, a feat never accomplished! And on top of that he knows if he then has to play Carlos it WILL be tough given that Carlos has already beaten him and and particularly if the crowd is pro Carlos!! It’s A LOT of pressure to bear and he is bursting at the seams!l Me personally, I felt it a bit off putting seeing him roar like that in a first round match where he was not under any particular threat so I could understand y the crowd felt the need to boo! I mean he only conceded 4 games!!!
Now y is it a double standard to criticize Novak but it’s ok to criticize Rafa?! When will Nole fans understand that not everyone will like Nole?!! He just doesn’t have that kind of appeal!!!! Epi dats it!!!!
It is double standards to be OK with one being criticised but not the other?
Ure right, but what I’m trying to say is that no one likes it when they favorite player gets criticized esp when it’s unfounded. But I feel like Nole fans hate it when he is criticized yet they r happy to find any reason to criticize Rafa especially!!! Nole fans get upset if someone says Rafa is the favorite at RG this year even if Goran admits that he rightly should be regardless of any fitness issues!!! Nole is the best and even when he loses he wins!!!! The AO 22 trophy too is his even if Rafa”s name is on it! Sigh!!
I doubt all Nole fans hate Rafa, it’s just something you’ve made up in your head.
Cleary not all of them do bcoz some like them both perhaps even in equal measure! I should have said “some”. I stand corrected. But I haven’t made up anything in my head bcoz u just have to read any tennis site to c what I’m talking about. There r toxic fans on both sides!
Mona please don’t dignify the troll anonymous with a rational response
This is someone who has been stealing people’s identities and posting gibberish.
He shouldn’t be talked to as a rational actor .
Mona,
Amy is right. This troll has been posting under our names and saying things we would never say. Just ignore this loser.
this is a bit rich from somebody who is constantly blabbing on about her political views on a tennis forum. Trolling ‘par excellence’.
thank you Monalisa.
You seem to be a far more open-minded and balanced person than amy and the Nativenewyorker.
how toxic are Amy and NNY?
Patronizing Monalisa by telling her who she should or shouldn’t reply to…