Djokovic feels he’s cooking with Agassi
NOVAK DJOKOVIC made a winning start to his partnership with Andre Agassi and is keen to soak up as much as he can before the American heads home.
Agassi has been tempted into coaching for the first time by the defending French Open champion but must leave Paris before the tournament finishes.
The eight-time Grand Slam champion sat impassively through Djokovic’s 6-3 6-4 6-2 win over Marcel Granollers, a performance the second seed later described as “a bit rusty”.
Djokovic and Agassi have been testing the partnership out this week and the Serbian has already seen enough to know he wants it to continue.
The world No.2 said: “He’s going to stay, I hope, until the end of this week. Then he has to leave because he has some things he can’t reschedule.
“I’m going to try to use the time spent with him as best as we can. So far plenty of information, plenty of things to process. I’m really enjoying it.”
Rafael Nadal followed Djokovic into the second round as he began his quest for a 10th French Open title with a straightforward 6-1 6-4 6-1 victory over Benoit Paire.
The Spaniard said: “I’m always happy with victory. It was not an easy opponent in the first round.
“I played very good in the first set and I got there.”
Fifth seed Milos Raonic was a convincing 6-3 6-4 6-2 winner over Steve Darcis.