Novak Djokovic will finally be back in action again when he takes the court against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Tuesday in Monte-Carlo. Meanwhile, the first round is wrapping up with Lorenzi Musetti vs. Benoit Paire.
(1) Novak Djokovic vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
Djokovic has played in only one tournament this season–and it did not go well. The top-ranked Serb lost in the Dubai quarterfinals to Jiri Vesely. Other than that, Djokovic was infamously unable to play the Australian Open, the Indian Wells Masters, and the Miami Masters because he is unvaccinated. There is no such mandate at this week’s Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, so the 34-year-old is finally back in action.
Up first for Djokovic on Tuesday following a bye is Davidovich Fokina, who trails the head-to-head series 2-0. Djokovic cruised 6-2, 6-1 last spring in Rome and 6-3, 6-1 a few months later at the Tokyo Olympics. Davidovich Fokina earned another shot in this matchup by beating Marcos Giron 7-5, 6-3 on Sunday. The 22-year-old Spaniard is just 5-9 at the ATP level in 2022, so nothing suggests he has suddenly going to be competitive against Djokovic.
Pick: Djokovic in 2 losing 5-7 games
Lorenzo Musetti vs. Benoit Paire
Musetti and Paire will be wrapping up first-round competition when they go head-to-head for the second time on Tuesday. Their only previous encounter came last year in Miami, where Musetti rolled 6-3, 6-3. Clay should only help the 20-year-old Italian, who reached the Rome third round in 2020 and the French Open fourth round last season (took two sets off Djokovic). Musetti has already won seven tour-level matches in 2022 and he is coming off a quarterfinal performance last week in Marrakech.
Paire continues to be a complete disaster on the court, which has been the case dating back to 2020. The Frenchman’s 2022 record stands at 2-9 and he is winless outside of the Australian Open. Clearly he has little to no interest at any event that isn’t a Grand Slam. Musetti will likely put Paire out of his misery right away in Monte-Carlo.
Pick: Musetti in 2
WWW?
I saw DF at Indian Wells just a few weeks ago….he can play….could easily get a set off of Joker. Musetti in 2.
Wrong way around. Musetti will be lucky to win and Djokovic 2-zip.
Never bet your house on Musetti. Completely overrated.
Well that’s not what the current score seems to suggest!
The age factor plus lack of match play means you can’t just turn up and beat the younger players that are match-fit. Plus, this is Djokovic’s weakest surface; he needs to playing a lot on it to play anywhere near his best.
Someone like Tsitsipas on the other hand should be able to turn up and steamroll because he’s completely comfortable on this surface and in good form.
There’s lots of things to consider when doing your pre-match analysis. As soon as you start making assumptions based on history and brush over it, that’s when you run into trouble.
However, Fognini has a lot to play for and could make things interesting.
DF knows this is Djokovic’s weakest surface and was lacking match play. He thought he could win before the match started.
“Clearly he has little to no interest at any event that isn’t a Grand Slam. Musetti will likely put Paire out of his misery right away in Monte-Carlo.”
Unless its on French soil against a rival from another neighboring country.
“The 22-year-old Spaniard is just 5-9 at the ATP level in 2022, so nothing suggests he has suddenly going to be competitive against Djokovic.”
Which Djokovic? The one that’s on a 40-match win streak or won 3 of the last 3 majors or the 35-yr old one one that has played 1 match in 6 months?
He may still be able to pull off the win but going forward he may get into all kinds of trouble with the more formidable seeds!
I would love to see a matchup with Nole and Alcaraz but Nole must win today!!
Well that’s really NOT happening! Alcaraz was dumped by Korda! Can’t wait to see this match on YouTube!!
Djokovic gone already. I thought he would’ve made it a little further and got knocked out by Alcaraz. Disappointed we won’t get that match, but surely it’ll happen at some point during this clay season.
Yep, he was clearly rusty!! He made a push in the second but he certainly needs more WD-40 to get him going next Match! At least he knows what needs working on! Novak looked good physically though!!
Funny enough, when Rafa comes off injury he usually plays some of his best tennis! Hardly ever he gets knocked out in early rounds!
NoVax is desperate for match play, not points. A Masters is a bad place to start since top players start in the 2nd round all matches are likely to be tough. I expect he’ll play a 250 next week.
Well maybe Novak fans will become more realistic about his chances after being off so long.
Really?Being off so long can have the opposite effect as you well know
Rafa is used to making comebacks. It’s a bit newer for NoVax. But, really, I think he’s only interested in slams these days.
I do not expect to live to see the day when the majority of NoVax fans become “more realistic” about anything. There are, of course, plenty of sane, reasonable NoVax fans. They just spend less time on twitter.
Novak is interested in slams which is why he held out hope that the USA would change their entry restrictions till the very last minute after the IW draw had been made?
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/tennis/djokovic-withdraws-indian-wells-masters-26430371
“#2 Novak Djokovic waited until after the Indian Wells draw was made, but he has pulled out of Indian Wells and Miami,” he wrote on Twitter, adding: “This delay made for a deeply unnecessary 24 hours of reigniting this nonsense.”
Djokovic explained his decision by telling fans he had hoped the US government might change its rules at the last minute.
I agree about some of the rabid Novak fans not becoming realistic about anything. The fact that they were carrying on with ridiculous predictions of Novak winning everything, indicates his delusional they are.
Al,
What on earth are you talking about? Look at what is going on with Novak! He lost early in Abu Dubai. Now he lost in his first match here. Obviously, the fact that he has not been able to play hardly at all since the beginning of the year, has hurt him.
Rafa came back after six months off due to injury. But he said that he was not physically ready for the AO. He almost decided not to come. He played at Melbourne and then it was the AO. Rafa needed a bit of help with a tough draw. He managed to avoid some tough players. He ended up with heat stroke in the quarterfinal match with Shapo. That was because he was not physically ready for best of five set matches.
They said it would take a miracle for Rafa to win the AO. And it did. So don’t pretend as though he was a favorite to win it.
Or do you think Novak just forgot how to play tennis? If I say black then you say white. Just disagreeing for the heck of it. If you think that being off has helped Novak, then you are not living in reality.
Corr:
Novak is interested in Masters which is why he held out hope that the USA would change their entry restrictions till the very last minute after the IW draw had been made?
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/tennis/djokovic-withdraws-indian-wells-masters-26430371
“#2 Novak Djokovic waited until after the Indian Wells draw was made, but he has pulled out of Indian Wells and Miami,” he wrote on Twitter, adding: “This delay made for a deeply unnecessary 24 hours of reigniting this nonsense.”
Djokovic explained his decision by telling fans he had hoped the US government might change its rules at the last minute.