Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal simply continue at Roland Garros, the Serb wants to go to Wimbledon | sport

For Djokovic, who won Roland Garros for the second time last year, it was his first appearance at a Grand Slam tournament this year. He was banned from participating in the Australian Open earlier this year by Australian authorities and was unable to defend his title there. He also didn’t play the Masters tournaments in the United States earlier this year. He recently won the masters tournament in Rome.

Djokovic will face the winner of the match between Slovakian Alex Molcan and Argentinian Federico Coria in the second round.

After his victory, the Serb announced that he plans to play at Wimbledon next month. The grand slam tournament in London, which refuses to admit players from Russia and Belarus due to the invasion of Ukraine, will not count for world ranking points this year, tennis’ apex organizations ATP ( men) and WTA (women) announced. decided.

“Yes, I plan to go to Wimbledon,” said the Serb. Djokovic won the grass-court tournament for the sixth time last year. He previously said he considered the tournament organization’s decision not to allow Russians and Belarusians “a mistake”.

After the ATP and WTA’s decision not to count Wimbledon points in the world rankings, several tennis players said they would approach the grand slam tournament “as a demonstration tournament”. Britain’s top player Cameron Norrie has even expressed fear that the world’s top players will opt out of Wimbledon.

Rafael Nadal made a good impression on his return to Roland Garros. In the first round, the thirteen-time champion lost just six games against Australian Jordan Thompson. It was 6-2 6-2 6-2.

Nadal won the service match seven times against world number 82 Thompson, who at times made a distraught impression. The Spaniard, the world number 5, hardly made any unnecessary mistakes and let the Australian – who knocked another ball out of the stadium in frustration – work for every point. It was only in the second set that Nadal had a lesser phase and he was broken.

After 2 hours and 2 minutes, Nadal used his first match point illustratively. After a long rally, Thompson made a mistake with his backhand.

Nadal arrived in Paris without winning a title during the clay-court season. Earlier this month he lost in the third round in Rome, leaving doubts about his form. ,,I will do my best in every game to reach my highest level again,” said the 21-time Grand Slam champion.

Last year, 35-year-old Nadal lost to Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals in Paris. This year, he can already meet the Serb in the quarter-finals.