{"id":1346,"date":"2026-05-24T22:03:57","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T22:03:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=1346"},"modified":"2026-05-24T22:03:57","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T22:03:57","slug":"novak-djokovic-overcomes-a-slow-start-and-hostile-crowd-in-1st-round-win-at-french-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=1346","title":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic overcomes a slow start and hostile crowd in 1st-round win at French Open"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>PARIS (AP) \u2014 At age 39, Novak Djokovic can still wear opponents down.<\/p>\n<p>Even opponents nearly half his age \u2014 and in front of a hostile crowd.<\/p>\n<p>Djokovic came back from a set down for a 5-7, 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 victory over 22-year-old home player Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in the first round of the French Open on Sunday in his record 82nd Grand Slam appearance.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=1344\">2 women among four people shot in Rocky Mount over 10 hours, police say<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Grunting during long rallies and digging deep on the opening night session on Court Philippe-Chatrier, it wasn\u2019t until 1 hour, 45 minutes in that Djokovic finally found a way to break his 6-foot-7 (2.01-meter) opponent and even the match at a set all.<\/p>\n<p>The crowd was pumped for a potential stunner \u2014 after all, Djokovic hasn\u2019t lost in the first round of a Grand Slam in 20 years. But after two tense sets, Mpetshi Perricard seemed deflated of energy.<\/p>\n<p>Djokovic, on the other hand, was just getting warmed up in only his second match on clay this year. In his other match on the surface this season, Djokovic lost to Croatian qualifier Dino Pri\u017emi\u0107 at the Italian Open after two months out due to a right shoulder injury.<\/p>\n<p>Just by stepping on court two days after his 39th birthday, Djokovic set the men\u2019s record for most Grand Slams contested \u2014 one more than Roger Federer and Feliciano Lopez. Djokovic has won a record 24 of those 82 Grand Slams.<\/p>\n<p>Djokovic also tied French players Richard Gasquet and Antoine Gentian with a men\u2019s record 22nd appearance at Roland Garros. He has reached at least the quarterfinals in 19 of the last 20 editions and raised the Coupe des Mousquetaires trophy in 2016, 2021 and 2023.<\/p>\n<h3>Djokovic taunts the pro-French crowd<\/h3>\n<p>The 80th-ranked Mpetshi Perricard had plenty of crowd support and the fans erupted into chants of \u201cGio-vanni, Gio-vanni, Gio-vanni\u201d when he ripped a forehand winner on his fourth break point to conclude a long rally during a tense game at 5-5 in the first set. Mpetshi Perricard then finished the set off with consecutive aces \u2014 the first of which clocked in at 223 kph (139 mph).<\/p>\n<p>Djokovic couldn\u2019t convert a break point until his 10th try when he concluded the second set with a drop shot that Mpetshi Perricard couldn\u2019t get back. Then Djokovic held his hand to his ear to taunt the pro-French crowd.<\/p>\n<p>Late in the fourth set after he pulled off a delicate half-volley winner, Djokovic skipped back to the baseline in apparent glee. And when it was over, Djokovic performed a celebratory wiggle on the baseline.<\/p>\n<h3>Djokovic can\u2019t meet Sinner until the final<\/h3>\n<p>Despite his reduced schedule of late, it should be remembered that Djokovic reached this year\u2019s Australian Open final where he lost to Carlos Alcaraz and has made the semifinals or better at five straight Grand Slams.<\/p>\n<p>With Alcaraz, the two-time reigning French Open champion, sitting out Roland Garros and Wimbledon with an injured right wrist, Djokovic sees a chance for himself in the lower half of the draw. He would meet top-ranked Jannik Sinner, who is on a 29-match winning streak, only in the final.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=1342\">Bystander in serious condition after fatal shooting near White House checkpoint<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Along with 2015 champion Stan Wawrinka, who is playing in his final French Open, Djokovic is the only former men\u2019s singles champion competing in Paris.<\/p>\n<h3>Match-fixing whistleblower<\/h3>\n<p>Djokovic wasn\u2019t the only player at an advanced age in the win column at Roland Garros on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>Marco Trungelliti, who at 36 recently became the oldest man in the professional era (since 1969) to break into the top 100 of the rankings, beat Kyrian Jacquet 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel that there is a lot to be done yet in terms of tennis,\u201d Trungelliti said. \u201cI\u2019m reaching my peak (at) 36.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Trungelitti partly attributed his late development to being ostracized from the tennis tour years ago when he became a whistleblower against match-fixing in the sport.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cReally hurt me back then,\u201d said Trungelitti, who still lives in exile in Andorra and feels uncomfortable going home to Argentina. \u201cI was very innocent in the sense that I was expecting that the system would help me out a little bit, and it was completely the opposite.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe whole package of institutions were never there, and they are still not there,\u201d Trungelitti added. \u201cI have a spine in my heart, and it\u2019s going to be there forever.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sorana Cirstea, another 36-year-old who this week became the oldest player to make her debut in the top 20, beat 17-year-old Ksenia Efremova 6-3, 6-1.<\/p>\n<p>And on Monday, 41-year-old Wawrinka will play Jesper De Jong in his final Roland Garros before retirement at the end of the year.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=1340\">33 rip current rescues at NC beaches to start Memorial Day weekend; high risk from OBX to Wilmington<\/a><\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>AP tennis: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/tennis<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PARIS (AP) \u2014 At age 39, Novak Djokovic can still wear opponents down. Even opponents&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1345,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Novak Djokovic overcomes a slow start and hostile crowd in 1st-round win at French Open - Raleigh Moving News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=1346\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Novak Djokovic overcomes a slow start and hostile crowd in 1st-round win at French Open - Raleigh Moving News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"PARIS (AP) \u2014 At age 39, Novak Djokovic can still wear opponents down. 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