Novak Djokovic says his relationship with Andy Murray remains stronger than ever after the pair met during Rafael Nadal’s emotional retirement ceremony on Sunday in Paris, their first meeting since agreeing to end their coaching partnership earlier this month.
In the aftermath of a hectic 48 hours, as he won his 100th ATP title at the Geneva Open on Saturday before being present on Court Philippe-Chatrier alongside Murray and Roger Federer to celebrate Nadal, Djokovic appeared for his pre-tournament press conference in Paris on Monday. As he reflected on his time working with Murray, Djokovic insisted that their decision to part ways was mutual.
“He did congratulate me [on winning Geneva], and he said: ‘Now that you have a proper coach, you’re winning tournaments,’” said Djokovic, laughing. “I don’t know. I didn’t take that as a joke. Of course he was joking, but I think I have said enough, but I will say it again: Andy is just an amazing person. First of all, someone that I have spent most of my career with since the very young age on the tour, travelling, playing him, facing him in the earliest days, under-12 and all the way through to the last days of his career. For him to join my team and for us to give a shot to this player/coach relationship was really an incredible thing for tennis and for both of us. I was very privileged and honoured.”
Djokovic continued: “I feel like we have a closer relationship because of our working relationship in the last four, five months.”
As Djokovic prepared for his first-round match against Mackenzie McDonald, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner took their first steps forward with straight-set victories in Paris. Alcaraz, the second seed and defending champion, described himself as pleasantly surprised by his level as he eased through with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win over Giulio Zeppieri of Italy. In the evening session, the top-seeded Sinner held off a late surge from home favourite Arthur Rinderknech in an electric atmosphere on Court Philippe-Chatrier to close out a 6-4, 6-3, 7-5 win. Sinner has now won 15 consecutive grand slam matches after winning the US Open and Australian Open.
Sinner’s victory sets up a significant second-round match with Richard Gasquet, the 38-year-old veteran and former world No 7 who is competing in his final tournament this week. Gasquet, who has been a constant presence in the sport for more than two decades since he emerged on the tour as a teenage prodigy, defeated his fellow French wildcard Terence Atmane 6-2, 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 to advance.
Taylor Fritz, the fourth seed, was the first significant casualty in the men’s draw as he was defeated 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 by Daniel Altmaier of Germany, ending a bitter clay court season marred by earlier injury struggles.
Elsewhere, a tearful Naomi Osaka briefly halted her press conference after suffering another heartbreaking loss in a significant tournament, losing 6-7 (1), 6-1, 6-4 to the 1oth seed, Paula Badosa. Despite some promising results, Osaka has struggled to rediscover her old form since returning to the sport after giving birth to her daughter, Shai, last January. She has reached the third round of a grand slam tournament on only one occasion since her return and when she did so at the Australian Open this year, she was forced to retire due to injury.
“I think as time goes on, I feel like I should be doing better,” said Osaka. “But also I hate disappointing people. So, like, even with Patrick [Mouratoglou], I was thinking this just now, but he goes from working with the greatest player ever [Serena Williams] to, like, what the fuck this is. You know what I mean?”
Elena Rybakina, seeded 12th, moved into the second round with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 win over Julia Riera but the ninth seed, Emma Navarro, suffered the most shocking loss of the day as she was dismantled 6-0, 6-1 by Jessica Bouzas Maneiro of Spain.
