Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic ‘not otherworldly’ in French Open wins over foes making Slam debuts

PARIS — You would possibly assume that the opponents for Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic within the French Open’s first spherical would come away from their straight-set losses Monday feeling too overwhelmed by the play of the 2 match favorites.

You could be unsuitable.

Forget the scores and the point-by-point particulars on a windy day at Roland Garros for a second. Of course it turned out that No. 1-seeded Alcaraz, the reigning U.S. Open champion, beat 159th-ranked qualifier Flavio Cobolli, a 21-year-old from Florence, Italy. And in fact it turned out that No. 3 Djokovic, a 22-time main winner, acquired previous 114th-ranked Aleksandar Kovacevic, a 24-year-old who grew up in New York City and is now primarily based in Florida.

And naturally, each Cobolli and Kovacevic acknowledged feeling a bit jittery on the outset of what have been their Grand Slam debuts in large arenas in opposition to a few elite gamers.

“I started in a bit of a daze,” Cobolli stated after his 6-0, 6-2, 7-5 loss, “because of the emotions.”

“A couple of times there, I did look up and take it all in. I made sure of that, because this is the kind of experience I’ll definitely hold onto forever,” Kovacevic stated after his 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (1) loss. “It’s not the best thing in the world to get lost in the crowd. You start to really look at everyone that’s there — and that’s when the nerves hit.”

But what each of them needed to clarify afterward was that, sure, Alcaraz and Djokovic are exceptionally gifted, however, no, it didn’t appear to be unimaginable to seek out openings to use.

“It’s definitely intimidating. Watching him on TV growing up, it’s hard not to look past that and knowing what he’s accomplished. But from a tennis standpoint, it’s not otherworldly,” stated Kovacevic, who was 7 when he first met Djokovic and later practiced with him through the 2021 U.S. Open after enjoying school tennis on the University of Illinois. “The things he does well, he does unbelievably well, but the ball that he hits — it’s not blowing me completely off the court, which was honestly somewhat surprising.”

Other seeded males advancing on Day 2 in Paris included No. 8 Jannik Sinner, No. 12 Frances Tiafoe, No. 14 Cam Norrie and No. 15 Borna Coric. Among the seeded girls shifting into the second spherical: No. 5 Caroline Garcia, No. 14 Beatriz Haddad Maia, No. 20 Madison Keys and No. 22 Donna Vekic. Seeds on the way in which out included No. 10 Petra Kvitova, No. 12 Belinda Bencic and No. 16 Karolina Pliskova within the girls’s bracket, together with No. 10 Felix Auger-Aliassime and No. 25 Botic Van de Zandschulp within the males’s.

With 14-time champion Rafael Nadal sidelined by a hip damage, Alcaraz and Djokovic are thought-about the favorites for the boys’s title and will meet within the semifinals. If Djokovic wins the trophy, he would earn his twenty third at a Slam and break the tie for the boys’s report he and Nadal at the moment share.

Cobolli’s first profession match on the lower-level ATP Challenger Tour was a loss in qualifying in opposition to Alcaraz in Italy in August 2000. Cobolli chuckled Monday whereas recalling that encounter and declaring that, whereas each have grown as gamers since then, “He’s grown more.”

“It’s impressive how he handles himself on important points. That’s one of his best qualities. His ball speed is faster than most players in this tournament. It’s so difficult to get him in trouble,” Cobolli stated. “But like all of us human beings, he does have his weaker aspects.”

Which, maybe, was why each of those contests have been lopsided originally — “At the start of the match,” Alcaraz stated, “I felt invincible — and included a bit of intrigue down the stretch.” Alcaraz held three match factors to shut issues at 5-3 within the third set however couldn’t convert, then discovered himself at 5-all minutes later. Djokovic served to finish his match at 5-4 within the third however acquired damaged there to additionally sit at 5-all.

“Made me work for my victory,” Djokovic stated.

In each cases, to the shock of nobody, the higher-rated participant steadied himself and sealed the deal.

Before coming to Paris, the final match entered by each Cobolli and Kovacevic was an ATP Challenger Tour occasion in Turin. Cobolli made the case that the expertise there was not all that completely different from what his first foray in a Grand Slam bracket offered.

“I don’t think there’s a ton of distance between us and them. They have something extra, so in the end, they do take home the win,” he stated. “But we can play with them.”