As Agassi watches, Djokovic prevails

PARIS — If Novak Djokovic was hoping to take a little pressure off himself, he might have found the perfect way to do it by adding Andre Agassi as a coaching consultant for the French Open.

With Agassi seated in the stands, the No. 2-seeded Djokovic was not always at his clean-swinging best Monday while beating Marcel Granollers 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 to begin defense of the title that allowed him to complete a career Grand Slam a year ago.

“It’s hard to say whether there is significant difference on the court, because it’s only a few days that we are together,” Djokovic said. “So it’s going to take a little bit of time. I’m patient and, for us, this is a great way to start off our collaboration and friendship and get to know each other and then see where it takes us.”

On a relatively quiet Day 2, Rafael Nadal started his pursuit of a record 10th French Open championship with a 6-1, 6-4, 6-1 victory over Benoit Paire. Other seeded men advancing included No. 5 Milos Raonic, No. 7 Marin Cilic and No. 10 David Goffin.

No. 14 Jack Sock, the top-ranked U.S. man, and No. 31 Gilles Simon — both in Nadal's section of the draw — plus No. 32 Mischa Zverev lost.

Defending women’s champion Garbine Muguruza and former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki won in straight sets, but two seeded American women joined Sock on the way out: No. 19 CoCo Vandeweghe and No. 25 Lauren Davis.

Sunglasses perched atop his shaved pate, Agassi occasionally applauded during Djokovic’s match. He declined to take questions.

Djokovic had plenty to say about their partnership, which sounds more like a brief experiment than the start of a long-term arrangement.

“Well, he’s going to stay, I hope, till the end of this week,” said Djokovic, whose 29 unforced errors were one more than Granollers’ total. “Then he has to leave because he has some scheduled things. So that’s all. I'm going to try to use the time spent with him as best as I can. So far, plenty of information, plenty of things to process.”