World tennis No. 1 Novak Djokovic, lacking results four days before Roland-Garros, came out of his first match on the clay of Geneva not without difficulty, dismissing the German Yannick Hanfmann (85th) on Wednesday. 6-3, 6-3.
Visibly relieved, as he told the public after an hour and a half of a match interrupted for almost an hour by rain, the Serb celebrated his 37th birthday on Wednesday and was able to enjoy the birthday cake that brought to him by the organizers of the Geneva ATP 250 tournament, in which he is participating for the first time.
Although he was not imperial, he showed himself to be diligent and above all took advantage of the largesse of his adversary.
Yannick Hanfmann, who took out British veteran and former world No.1 Andy Murray on Tuesday, played his luck bravely but he cracked at important moments.
The 32-year-old German wasted the seven break points he had in the first set and was unable to maintain the three game lead he gained at the start of the second set.
Djokovic, on the contrary, did not miss the rare opportunities he had by authoritatively converting the break points obtained in each set and stringing together six winning games to conclude the match.
The world No.1 invited himself to the Geneva tournament at the last minute in the hope of gaining a little confidence before Roland-Garros (May 26-June 9), where he is preparing to defend his title after a first game season well below its usual yield.
The record holder for Grand Slam titles (24) has not reached a single final on the circuit in 2024, his best performance remaining two semi-finals, at the Australian Open at the very start of the season and at the Masters. 1000 of Monte Carlo last month.
Tuesday in front of the press, Djokovic confided that he was “looking for (his) best possible level”.
“Right now there is no better training for me than the game. So I feel like I need more matches,” he added. “This is how I will try to find the form I need for Roland-Garros.”
In the next round, Djokovic, in search of a 99th title on the circuit, will face Thursday the winner of the match scheduled for Wednesday evening between the Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor (27th) and the Canadian Denis Shapovalov (123rd).
Note among Wednesday’s results, the premature exit of the American and 12th in the world Taylor Fritz beaten by his compatriot Alex Michelsen (65th) 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.
