In Monte Carlo Djokovic shines, yes, but Tsitsipas too

Heading towards the net, towards the cordial greeting, Djokovic smiles, puffs out his cheeks and lets out a deep sigh of relief.

"Ugh!" The number one snorts while his rival, Ivan Gakhov, complicitly grabs his back and dedicates: "You're the best, Novak, I hope I can play many more games against you."

The desire of the Russian, a deceptive tennis player who occupies the 198th position in the

and who until a few days ago had never won a match on the ATP circuit, surely contrasts with that of the Balkan, demanded from start to finish in his debut at the Monte Carlo Masters 1000.

He has beaten Nole, but has sweated.

Wow, he has sweated: 7-6 (5) and 6-2.

Bittersweet, the one left by his first adversary –coming from the qualifying phase– in this opening in the Principality.

Djokovic is honest at the microphone: "To be honest, I had never seen him until today, only in a video of yesterday's game [on Monday]."

He then reproaches himself: “It was an ugly victory.

I have not played at my best level, especially during the first set, although I have been able to contain my nerves in the important moments”.

And the Serbian slips – just over a month after his 36th birthday – as mitigation: “Somehow I could expect something like this, due to the conditions and because the wind changed the direction of the ball a lot.

A training session is very different from an official match on land, where the bounce is always different and things are unpredictable”.

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The fact is that the one from Belgrade now has to re-engage on the fly.

Absent on the North American tour, prey to his refusal to vaccinate against covid, the tennis player has been exercising on sand for a month, but in his first intervention he played with fire throughout a set.

For 70 minutes, the intrepid (and left-footed) Gakhov, 26, approached him imbuing himself with Nadal's spirit, drawing curling shots and firing a heavy ball that Djokovic choked on;

However, as soon as he found some calm and reorganized his ideas, the latter put sanity to the result and avoided the bad taste of the

, embraced the victory that led him to the round of 16.

He will face Lorenzo Musetti or Luca Nardi.

Without Rafael Nadal or Carlos Alcaraz on the table these days, Nole is the wheel to follow in Monte Carlo, a tournament that has resisted him since 2015 -he has won it twice, that year and in 2013- and that left him with a bitter aftertaste last year, when he was eliminated from the outset by Alejandro Davidovich.

He had not competed since March 3, then defeated by Dannil Medvedev in the semifinals in Dubai, and the pause was noted.

In any case, he hopes to raise the level.

He will need it, since Stefanos Tsitsipas is also parading there.

The Greek, finalist of Roland Garros in 2021, Benjamin Bonzi lasted a sigh in the premiere – the Frenchman was injured after five games, 4-1 against him – and he wants to reaffirm himself on the stage that he has conquered the last two seasons,

Tsitsipas, before Bonzi.ERIC GAILLARD (REUTERS)

Despite the fact that he is an accomplished specialist on hard, four of the nine titles he has won so far –Estoril and Lyon, as well as the double on the shores of the Mediterranean– were produced under the terrestrial record.

“Fast courts require us to be machines, not think, and tennis cannot be reduced to that.

Instead, the land is like an artist's canvas;

produces the purest and most beautiful tennis”, he told the newspaper

"It has been a good start, 3-0 up", he referred to the duel with the battered Bonzi;

“But it's always unfortunate what has happened to him.

I'm happy to be here, good memories.

The location is unique ”, continued the one from Athens, resident in Monte Carlo and pointed out: he is the other man to beat.

The next stumbling block for him, Nicolás Jarry or Alexei Popyrin.

"He knows how to play, there is no doubt," Djokovic stressed about Gakhov, who had been playing

and left a phenomenal mark.

"Great forehand, great serve, flat backhand and entering...", resolved Nole, winner in Australia in January and who will now try to catch another title to reinforce his record in the territory of the Masters 1000, two above Nadal (38-36 ).

Absent the Balearic Islands, also Alcaraz, the national tennis only has the representation of Roberto Bautista – quoted this Wednesday with Alexander Zverev;

11.00, Movistar Deportes– after Jaume Munar's farewell to Andrei Rublev (4-6, 6-2 and 6-2) and the surprising fall of Alejandro Davidovich.

Finalist last year, the man from Malaga crashed against Karen Khachanov (double 6-2) and will lose at least 13 places on the list, from 24th to 37th.

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