Djokovic wins at French Open — but not impressively

PARIS — Despite his success over the years — the 12 major championships, the career Grand Slam, the time ranked No. 1 — Novak Djokovic still finds himself searching for self-confidence these days. That’s what an elbow injury and forced absence from the ATP tour can do to a player.

Djokovic was reflective and revealing Wednesday after moving into the third round at the French Open by virtue of a self-described up-and-down performance in a 7-6 (1), 6-4, 6-4 victory over 155th-ranked Jaume Antoni Munar Clar of Spain. Both of Djokovic’s matches so far have been against qualifiers; neither win was particularly impressive.

“I’m not playing at the level I wish to, but at the same time, I understand that it is the process that obviously takes time,” said Djokovic, whose No. 20 seeding is his lowest at a Slam in 12 years. “I’m trying to not give up.”

At least he got through in straight sets, saving energy for whatever might come next. Other leading men worked a lot harder in matches they would’ve been expected to breeze through: No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev, No. 4 Grigor Dimitrov and No. 19 Kei Nishikori faced twosets-to-one deficits and all emerged to win Wednesday.

Zverev was down by a set and a break early — and down a racket he’d obliterated by then, too — before coming back to beat 60th-ranked Dusan Lajovic of Serbia 2-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. Dimitrov was two points from defeat against American Jared Donaldson, 21, but won 6-7 (2), 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 10-8 in a marathon that lasted 4 hours, 19 minutes and featured a couple of underhand serves by the cramping Donaldson. Nishikori got past Benoit Paire of France 6-3, 2-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

The lengths, if not quality, of those matches were what amounted to on-court intrigue on Day 4 at the claycourt major. The only top-16seeded man or woman who lost was No. 12 Sam Querrey of the U.S. Among women, No. 1 Simona Halep shook off a slow start in a postponed first-round match to defeat Alison Riske of the U.S. 2-6, 6-1, 6-1, while second-round winners included reigning major champions Caroline Wozniacki and Sloane Stephens, along with No. 4 Elina Svitolina, No. 8 Petra Kvitova and No. 13 Madison Keys.

So perhaps the most meaningful moments around the grounds came as Djokovic discussed his state of mind as he tries to regain his previous status in tennis. He sat out the last half of 2017 with a painful right elbow, tried to return in January, then decided to have an operation. Djokovic arrived at Roland Garros with a 10-7 record this season. He was at .500 until showing signs of a resurgence by getting to the Italian Open semifinals before losing to 10-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal.

“Best practice that you can have is a match. I haven’t had too many matches, and I really never thought that I’m going to be challenged in that way, mentally — that I need matches in order to get confidence. But obviously I’m learning something new,” said Djokovic, who hasn’t won a Grand Slam title since claiming his fourth in a row at the 2016 French Open.