PARIS TENNIS 2017 • DJOKOVIC WINS MATCH NO. 1 WITH AGASSI, NADAL CRUISES TO WIN NO. 73 AT FRENCH OPEN

Written by: Staff on 29th May 2017

French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros

PARIS TENNIS 2017 • DJOKOVIC WINS MATCH NO. 1 WITH AGASSI, NADAL CRUISES TO WIN NO. 73 AT FRENCH OPEN

epa05997304 Novak Djokovic of Serbia in action against Marcel Granollers of Spain during their men?s 1st round single match during the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 29 May 2017. EPA/TATYANA ZENKOVICH |

By Ricky Dimon

The Novak Djokovic-Andre Agassi partnership got off to a winning start at the French Open on Monday afternoon. Djokovic coasted through his first-round encounter against Marcel Granollers 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in two hours and 27 minutes.

A relative disaster in the opening half of this season compared to what he was early in 2016 en route to Australian Open and French Open titles, Djokovic split from his entire team at the beginning of this clay-court swing. Enter Agassi, whom the Serb hired–at least on a part-time basis if not more–after losing the recent Rome final to Alexander Zverev.

Djokovic was not at his very best throughout his 2017 French Open debut, but he still had more than enough in his arsenal to get the job done without much trouble.

Novak Djokovic (R) of Serbia arrives with his new coach Andre Agassi (L) of US for a training session few days ahead of the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 25 May 2017. EPA/YOAN VALAT

“He is the way he is,” the No. 2 seed said of Agassi. “And I’m not gonna tell him how he’s going to behave in the box or whatever. I don’t have a right to do that; I’m never gonna do that. I like him the way he is.

“It’s obviously the first match that he has watched, courtside from the box (in the) role of a coach, so it was very interesting for me to experience and feel what I’m going to feel on the court when that’s happening. But I actually felt very much focused on what I needed to do, so it wasn’t really disturbing in any way to me. It’s quite special. I’m honored. But at the same time, we are a team. So we are there for a reason. It was completely fine.”

Rafael Nadal, who is on a semifinal collision course with Djokovic in the bottom half of the draw, joined his rival in round two by beating Benoit Paire 6-1, 6-4, 6-1. Nadal needed only one hour and 52 minutes to advance.

“At the start (of the tournament, I’m) happy for the victory. (He) was not an easy opponent in the first round, obviously. He’s an uncomfortable opponent that already he had some good victories this year. I came on court with a lot of respect, no?

“I think I played very (good) first set. During the second I suffered a little bit, especially [at] 4-3. After that I make the break and then finished a close set–and it was a little bit less difficult.”

“Every time I play against Rafa, the [matches] are not good,” Paire admitted. “It’s of course very frustrating every time I play against…. He’s exceptional. He moves really fast; he hits really hard. But I miss a lot of opportunities when I’m against him…. When I wanted to be aggressive, I missed.”

Next up for Nadal is Robin Haase, who crushed Alex De Minaur in straight sets. Djokovic awaits Joao Sousa on Tuesday.