'Confident' Djokovic kicks off Slam record attempt at French Open
Novak Djokovic brought up a century of ATP titles with his win in Geneva on Saturday (VALENTIN FLAURAUD)
Novak Djokovic sets out on his latest pursuit of a record-breaking 25th Grand Slam title at the French Open on Tuesday, as women's contenders Coco Gauff and Mirra Andreeva get their campaigns under way.
The 38-year-old Djokovic starts off against 98th-ranked American Mackenzie McDonald, three days after becoming only the third man to win 100 ATP titles with his victory in Geneva.
Advertisement
"Obviously winning 100th title, that is a nice milestone, of course, definitely much needed for my game and confidence level coming into Roland Garros," said Djokovic.
"I needed to win matches, and particularly on this surface.
"I'm the type of player that needs to get some matches under his belt before the big tournaments."
Three-time Roland Garros champion Djokovic is on the same half of the draw as world number one Jannik Sinner and last year's runner-up Alexander Zverev.
Seeded sixth, Djokovic returns to Paris for the first time since beating Carlos Alcaraz to capture a much coveted Olympic gold medal last August.
Advertisement
"After the Geneva title, I feel more confident. I feel more positive about my level," said Djokovic.
"I feel better, I still have a lot of ambitions, I still have high objectives."
World number three Zverev hopes to go a step further than 12 months ago when he lost the final to Carlos Alcaraz in five sets, his third defeat in as many Grand Slam finals.
His preparation has been far from ideal. As a last-minute entry in Hamburg, he lost in the round of 16 and blamed illness for a lacklustre display.
He then revealed his journey to Paris was delayed after his plane, which was also carrying other tennis players, got struck by lightning, which forced it turn around and do an emergency landing.
Advertisement
Zverev takes on US teenager Learner Tien, who beat the German in straight sets in Acapulco in February.
Fifth seed Jack Draper, who won at Indian Wells and reached the Madrid final, takes on Mattia Bellucci in round one, while 11th seed Daniil Medvedev meets Cameron Norrie.
Alex de Minaur, a quarter-finalist at each of the past four majors, squares off against Laslo Djere. Czech teenager and Miami champion Jakub Mensik faces home hope Alexandre Muller.
- Gauff, Andreeva ones to watch -
In the women's draw, 2022 runner-up Gauff plays Australia's Olivia Gadecki, who has just one Grand Slam main draw match win to her credit.
Advertisement
Gauff, the 2023 US Open winner, has not won a tournament since last year's WTA Finals but reached the finals at both Madrid and Rome this month.
"It definitely gives me a lot of confidence, but I think I'm just putting those results in the past and focusing on the next two weeks here," said Gauff.
The 21-year-old American has reached the quarter-finals or better in each of her past four visits to Roland Garros.
Rising Russian star Andreeva is eyeing her maiden Grand Slam crown after WTA 1000 titles in Dubai and Indian Wells.
She also won silver in doubles at last year's Olympics, two months after a sparkling run to the last four at Roland Garros before falling to eventual runner-up Jasmine Paolini.
Advertisement
Andreeva faces Spanish world number 98 Cristina Bucsa in the first round.
"I'm super excited to be back. The practices and everything is going good so far. I just can't wait to start the tournament," said sixth-seeded Andreeva.
Ons Jabeur, a three-time Grand Slam runner-up, is also in action. The Tunisian is unseeded after battling injury and meets Poland's Magdalena French.
There is also a clash of mothers as two-time former Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka plays Belgium's Yanina Wickmayer, a surprise 2009 US Open semi-finalist who will retire after Wimbledon.
mw/jc

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Chelsea omit Djordje Petrovic from Club World Cup squad, Kendry Paez to join Strasbourg on loan
Djordje Petrovic has been left out of Chelsea's Club World Cup squad, while Kendry Paez is also omitted ahead of being loaned out to BlueCo-owned Strasbourg. Paez, whose transfer was agreed with Independiente Del Valle when he was 16 in 2023, is now eligible to complete his switch to Stamford Bridge. However, the teenager is not involved because he will join Strasbourg on loan. Advertisement Ligue 1 club Strasbourg and Chelsea are owned by multi-club ownership group BlueCo. Petrovic is not going to the tournament in the U.S. despite Chelsea ending their interest in signing AC Milan keeper Mike Maignan before the first transfer window of the summer closed at 7pm tonight. The Serbia international impressed on loan at Strasbourg in 2024-25 but Chelsea have decided to take goalkeepers Robert Sanchez, Filip Jorgensen and new signing Mike Penders, who joined from Genk a year ago but spent last season at the Belgian club. Chelsea will continue to assess their goalkeeping options, with Petrovic to report back for pre-season in July. However, sources have told The Athletic that he has interest from multiple European clubs and he or Sanchez could be sold because Chelsea will not go into the campaign with four goalkeepers in their squad. Andrey Santos, who was also on loan at Strasbourg last season, has been included in Enzo Maresca's squad but other loanees Joao Felix, Raheem Sterling, Axel Disasi and Ben Chilwell will not be involved. As The Athletic reported earlier on Tuesday, Chelsea did not want to take too many players and have a 'bomb squad' of individuals whose futures lie elsewhere. They want the majority of the players who finished the Premier League campaign and won the Conference League in May to be competing as they see the Club World Cup as part of the same season. Chelsea's new signings Liam Delap, Dario Essugo and Mamadou Sarr are going to be on the plane. (Top image of Djordje Petrovic:)


New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
Rayan Cherki to Manchester City: Transfers TLDR
Manchester City have completed the signing of Rayan Cherki from French club Lyon for €36.5million (£30.9m, $41.7m). The 21-year-old France international has signed a five-year contract until 2030. He will be available to play for Pep Guardiola's side at the upcoming Club World Cup in the United States. As part of this summer's transfer coverage at The Athletic, in addition to breaking news, tactical analysis and in-depth reads, our Transfers TLDR series (you can read them all here) will bring you a quick guide to each of the key deals. Cherki has been marked out as a rare talent since an early age. Hailing from Lyon, he joined his hometown club at the age of seven. He trained with Chelsea as a youngster, to the annoyance of Lyon, and last summer was targeted by Fulham and Crystal Palace, but until now has remained a one-club man in terms of senior football. Advertisement Though he has Italian heritage on his father's side and Algerian on his mother's, he opted to play for the country of his birth, making his first two appearances in the Nations League's semi-finals and final last week. Steve Madeley With the ball, Cherki is an extraordinary talent the City fans can look forward to fireworks from. They are also getting somebody who can play in a range of positions and is genuinely two-footed — he has been known to take set pieces with both his left and right. Cherki has worked hard to improve his defending and tactical discipline but that remains the biggest question mark about his game, so City supporters should not expect to see a complete player from the outset. Steve Madeley Cherki will infuse creativity into a City team bidding goodbye to Kevin De Bruyne this summer after 10 mostly glittering years. The Frenchman has a gifted first touch and is an excellent ball-carrier, relying on delicate dabs with either boot and trickery instead of pace to beat defenders. Cherki's technique in controlling the ball is spectacular, as he showed while scoring on his international debut against Spain in the Nations League semi-finals last week. A Goal of the Tournament contender from France debutant Rayan Cherki 🥵#UNLGOTR | @AlipayPlus — UEFA EURO (@UEFAEURO) June 5, 2025 His two-footedness gives City manager Pep Guardiola options, as Cherki has played on both wings and as an attacking midfielder for Lyon. His out-of-possession game does require fine-tuning, though. City's shift to using ball-carriers to generate creativity in recent years means Cherki, in theory, should fit in. A transition period is to be expected, however, as players often perform better in their second season under Guardiola than in the first. Anantaajith Raghuraman Cherki missed no games due to injury this season, playing 44 times for Lyon. He also featured in 67 of their 72 Ligue 1 matches across the 2022-23 and 2023-24 campaigns. He has only suffered one serious injury — a metatarsal (a bone in the foot) fracture in February 2022 that ruled him out for three months. Anantaajith Raghuraman 'Technically, he was an extraordinary player,' Jean Francois Vulliez, a former Lyon academy director and coach told The Athletic in April. 'Everyone knew who he was because he had a way of touching the ball and a way of playing that set him apart as a player. 'He has a deep love of football. He loves the relationship with the ball and he loves one-v-ones. His thing was getting the ball and thinking, 'How can I get past my opponent? How can I get past two opponents, how can I get past three opponents, how can I score a goal?'.' Steve Madeley Cherki has joined City on a five-year contract, ending in June 2030. They have paid Lyon £30.9million (€36.5m/$41.7m) for their youngest-ever competitive goalscorer. A further £5.1m could be due in future add-ons, while Lyon have also secured a sell-on clause that will net them 15 per cent of any profit City make on Cherki in a future transfer. Advertisement The timing of the deal means a mere 1.1 per cent of Cherki's overall fee will go into City's 2024-25 accounts, with the rest spread across five seasons ending with the 2029-30 campaign. Chris Weatherspoon Assuming agent fees of 10 per cent on the transfer, Cherki's signing will add £368,000 in amortisation costs to City's 2024-25 figures. Thereafter, to the end of the 2029-30 season, the fee spent here will be charged at a rate of £6.7million annually in City's books. Cherki's wages are unknown at this stage, but will add a sizeable number on top of the estimated £34million City have spent in transfer and agent fees to bring him to the Etihad Stadium. From Lyon's perspective, their recognition of Cherki's sale is unencumbered by prior dealings. He has been at the club since the age of seven, and French clubs account for agent fees — such as those that might have been incurred when contract extensions were signed — at the time their services are provided, rather than across the length of player contracts (as is the case in, for example, England), so Cherki's book value at his boyhood club is zero. Chris Weatherspoon


New York Times
3 hours ago
- New York Times
Can American women dominate this year?
Catch up on the French Open semifinal reaction after Gauff and Sabalenka beat Loïs Boisson and Iga Świątek respectively at Roland Garros Getty Images Getty Images After Madison Keys started the year with a victory in Melbourne, Coco Gauff can continue the American domination of the Grand Slams here in Paris. And it has been a decade since two women playing under the Star-Spangled Banner won the first two majors of the year. And it was one woman responsible for both victories: Serena Williams. Two different American women winning the first two slams? You have got to go back to 2002 when Jennifer Capriati won in Australia then Williams triumphed at Roland Garros. Getty Images Aryna Sabalenka spoke at length after her match at the improvements she's made to the variety of shots in her arsenal. 💬 'I think mostly for the clay I improved physically. I have more variety on the shots. I can go flat, I can with the spin, I can go back and play in defense. That's what works the best on the clay court for me.' The world no. 1 then admitted to being surprised at handing a bagel to the defending champion. 'The way the third set went was shocking for me, to be honest. I'm super happy that I found the rhythm on my serve, and it was much easier after I figured, okay, I'm in control of my serve, and also I put so much pressure on her serve.' Getty Images Victory on Saturday would give Aryna Sabalenka three of the four Grand Slam titles. She has already won the big prizes on offer in Melbourne (twice) and New York. And, should he head to London with the French Open trophy in her hand luggage, she would just need Wimbledon — where her best finish is a semifinal — to complete the set. The last woman to complete the career grand slam was Maria Sharapova here in 2012. Getty Images Aryna Sabalenka has a few firsts in her sights. Victoria Azarenka is the only Belarusian to have a won Grand Slam and both of hers came in Australia. So Sabalenka became the first woman from her country to win the U.S. Open when she triumphed last September. And the same achievement here at Roland Garros is in her sights now — and will also be on her radar heading to Wimbledon in five weeks' time. She already has the most Grand Slams of anyone from Belarus and it is hard to imagine she won't add to her three majors. Getty Images Aryna Sabalenka, having made her first French Open final, was reflective on the journey she's taken to get this far. She identified clay not being seen as her best surface as the main reason why the trophy would be so special. 💬 'It's going to mean everything to me and my team, because I have to say that almost like the whole life I've been told where it is not my thing and then I didn't have any confidence 'And in the past I don't know how many years, we've been able to develop my game so much, so I feel really comfortable on this surface and actually enjoy playing on clay. If I'm able to get this trophy, it's just going to mean the world for us.' Getty Images Just the one set dropped by Aryna Sabalenka on the way to her first final here at Roland Garros. She has taken out three seeded players — Amanda Anisimova (16), Qinwen Zheng (8) and Iga Świątek (5) — on the way to the final with a third-set bagel in today's semifinal standing out. First round : Def. Kamilla Rakhimova (6-1, 6-0) : Def. Kamilla Rakhimova (6-1, 6-0) Second round : Def. Jil Teichmann (6-3, 6-1) : Def. Jil Teichmann (6-3, 6-1) Third round : Def. Olga Danilovic (6-2, 6-3) : Def. Olga Danilovic (6-2, 6-3) Fourth round : Def. Amanda Anisimova (7-5, 6-3) : Def. Amanda Anisimova (7-5, 6-3) Quarterfinal : Def. Qinwen Zheng (7-6, 6-3) : Def. Qinwen Zheng (7-6, 6-3) Semifinal: Def. Iga Świątek (7-6, 4-6, 6-0) Getty Images Well, we know Serena Williams enjoyed the time she spent in Paris, winning the French Open singles title three times (2002, 2013 and 2015). But she is not the most successful American women on these famous grounds. That honor goes to Chris Evert who made Roland Garros her playground in the 1970s and 80s. She won the French Open title on seven occasions — 1974, 1975, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1986 — and successfully defended her crown three times The other American women to lift the trophy here are Nancy Richey (1968), Billie Jean King (1972), Martina Navratilova (1982 and 1984) and Jennifer Capriati (2001). Gauff will be desperate to add her name to that storied list. Getty Images It's been a while since an American woman won the French Open singles title. You have to go back 10 years to 2015 where Serena Williams won her third title at Roland Garros, defeating Lucie Safarova in three sets 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-2. Williams only won three more majors after that triumph in Paris: Wimbledon in 2015 and 2016 then the 2017 Australian Open. Getty Images Coco Gauff has taken out two seeded players — Ekaterina Alexandrova (20) and Madison Keys (7) — on the way to her second French Open final. She would have certainly been expecting another in today's semifinal but Loïs Boisson did a great job of taking out the likes of Jessica Pegula (3) and Mirra Andreeva (6). First round : Def. Olivia Gadecki (6-2, 6-2) : Def. Olivia Gadecki (6-2, 6-2) Second round : Def. Tereza Valentova (6-2, 6-4) : Def. Tereza Valentova (6-2, 6-4) Third round : Def. Marie Bouzková (6-1, 7-6 (3) : Def. Marie Bouzková (6-1, 7-6 (3) Fourth round : Def. Ekaterina Alexandrova (6-0, 7-5) : Def. Ekaterina Alexandrova (6-0, 7-5) Quarterfinal : Def. Madison Keys (7-6, 4-6, 6-1) : Def. Madison Keys (7-6, 4-6, 6-1) Semifinal: Def. Loïs Boisson (6-1, 6-2) Getty Images Early on in the Roland Garros women's final on Saturday, I'm looking to see how Coco Gauff can handle Aryna Sabalenka's powerful serve. The world No. 1 can serve with a lot of pop but as we saw in the semifinals, it can be vulnerable to getting broken a lot. Will Gauff stand closer to the baseline to get aggressive off the return? How will she defend the powerful Sabalenka groundstrokes? The U.S. No. 1 needed a set to ease her way into the 2023 U.S. Open final when they last played in a Grand Slam inal. It will be interesting if that happens again on Saturday. On the flip side, I think Gauff needs to have an excellent serving day. She was only broken once in the semifinal against Lois Boisson. But this is a much more dangerous opponent in Sabalenka, who likes to be aggressive off the return. Getty Images With Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff meeting in the French Open final, it means its a clash between the world No. 1 and No. 2. It's the first time the world No. 1 and No. 2 are facing off in a women's singles final at a slam since the 2016 Australian Open (Simona Halep versus Caroline Wozniacki). At Roland Garros, it hasn't happened since 2013 (Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova). Getty Images With the last question of her on-court interview, Coco Gauff was asked if her experience of playing in the Roland Garros showpiece will benefit her on Saturday. 💬 'It will definitely help me. I was super nervous going into that final. Obviously I'm playing Aryna so it's going to be a tough match. Overall I'm just really proud of myself. 'Yeah, there's still a lot more to do but I'm going to go enjoy this one and tomorrow I'll start my preparation for the final.' Getty Images If Coco Gauff wins on Saturday, it will be the second slam of her young career. It will be her first at Roland Garros, taking her halfway to the career Grand Slam. Gauff will move into a tie with active players like Barbora Krejcikova, Victoria Azarenka and Petra Kvitova with two slams. The American will be one behind Aryna Sabalenka (3), two back from Naomi Osaka and three off Iga Świątek. Moving on up! Getty Images We have become so used to watching Coco Gauff go deep at the Grand Slams over the last few years that it has become so easy to forget that she is still only 21. As Lukas mentioned earlier, this is her third final of this clay-court season. She has just become the youngest player ever to reach the finals in Madrid, Rome and now Paris in the same season. Getty Images Of the four players to reach the women's semifinal at this year's French Open, you probably won't be surprised to hear that Loïs Boisson spent more time out on court than anyone else. And the 10 hours and 22 minutes that she played before today was three quarters of an hour more than Jannik Sinner needed to get to his semifinal (nine hours and 35 minutes). For that reason, it is very easy to see why Boisson's body let her down a little today. Getty Images Such is the weighting of ranking points at Grand Slams, Loïs Boisson will be flying up the women's rankings next week. She arrived at this year's French Open as the 361st-ranked player in the world and will begin next week up at 65! That will make her the highest-ranked Frenchwoman in the WTA rankings. What a week! Getty Images Lois Boisson's run may have ended with a semifinal defeat to Coco Gauff. But the Frenchwoman's remarkable tournament won't be forgotten. Just think...a year ago she was recovering from a torn ACL. Out for nine months of tennis action. A year later, she receives a wild card to play in Roland Garros, her first slam. Then, beats two top-10 players in Jessica Pegula and Mirra Andreeva en route to the semifinals. She became just the third woman in the Open Era to reach the semifinals in her first slam. It's been a minute since a player has reached three consecutive Grand Slam finals in women's singles. That's what Aryna Sabalenka did today with her three-set victory over Iga Świątek. The last woman to accomplish this feat was Serena Williams back in 2016. Of the three finals, the 23-time slam champion only won one of them; beating Angelique Kerber at Wimbledon after losing to her in Australia and fellow European Garbiñe Muguruza in Paris. Talk about elite company. Getty Images Aryna Sabalenka was very pleased with her three-set victory over defending champion Iga Świątek earlier on, but stressed that there is still one more big hurdle to jump over... 💬 'Honestly it feels incredible but the job is not done yet. I'm thrilled with the performance today with this win and with the atmosphere in the stadium. It makes us feel amazing. '(Świątek) is the toughest opponent, especially on clay at Roland Garros. I'm proud that I was able to get this win. It was tough and a streaky match. I'm so proud right now.'