Djokovic rolls in opener in Rome
Novak Djokovic took a little while to get going in his first match in nearly a month.
He cleaned up his game after dropping his first two service games with some sloppy play, though, and completed a 6-3, 6-1 win over left-handed French qualifier Corentin Moutet in his opening match at the Italian Open on Friday.
“I haven’t practised with a lefty in a while, so it took me a little bit of time to adjust to the different rotation on the balls,” Djokovic said. “The first four games were quite bad for me . ... But then I played well.”
The top-ranked Djokovic hadn’t played since he lost to Casper Ruud in the Monte Carlo Masters semifinals on April 13. The 24-time Grand Slam champion is also without a title this year — the first time he’s reached May without a trophy since 2018, when he was returning from a right elbow injury.
But Rome, where he’s a six-time champion, is one of Djokovic’s favourite tournaments. It’s also where Djokovic is trying to step up his game on clay before attempting to defend his title at the French Open, which starts May 26.
Djokovic produced 21 winners to Moutet’s 13 and had 13 unforced errors to his opponent’s 20. Showing a willingness to come forward, Djokovic also won 18 of 22 points at the net.
“Corentin is a very talented player. He has great hands, and very unpredictable. You don’t know what comes up next. So I had to stay focused, which I did,” Djokovic said. “So it’s a good opening match.”
Djokovic improved to 18-0 in his opening matches in Rome. He’ll next face 29th-seeded Alejandro Tabilo. Record 10-time Rome champion Rafael Nadal is in the other half of the draw.
In the women’s tournament, defending champion Elena Rybakina withdrew before her opening match against Irina-camelia Begu because of illness.
Kylian Mbappe announced Friday on social media that he is leaving Paris Saint-germain, an expected move for the French superstar who is expected to join Real Madrid. Mbappe said on X that he will play his final home game on Sunday against Toulouse.
“I never thought it would be this difficult to leave my country,” he said in the video post, adding that he will face a new challenge after seven years with the club.
Jon Urbanchek, an International Swimming Hall of Fame inductee who was an assistant for several United States Olympic teams and led Michigan to a national championship, has died. He was 87.
Urbanchek was born in Hungary. After Soviet troops attacked during the 1956 revolution, he immigrated to the U.S. and enrolled at the University of Michigan, where he helped the swimming program win national titles in 1959 and 1961. Urbanchek was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008.