Djokovic Is Feeling Great And Playing Confidently At Paris Masters

Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic (photo: Jürgen Hasenkopf)

PARIS/WASHINGTON, November 3, 2026 (by Michael Dickens)

Seven-time champion Novak Djokovic is no stranger to the Rolex Paris Masters. After all, he’s making his record 18th appearance at the ninth and final ATP Masters 1000 event of the season. However, it is Djokovic’s first time playing in the City of Lights since winning the 2023 title and his first time since the tournament moved to La Défense after many years of being held in Bercy.

While Djokovic owns the ATP Masters 1000 records for most wins (420), semifinals (80), finals (60) and titles (40), the 39-year-old Serbian finds himself still in contention to qualify for his 19th Nitto ATP Finals in the last 20 years – and, perhaps, that is his motivation for playing this week in Paris. He’s also full of confidence after winning his 102nd career ATP Tour title recently in Beijing. 

 

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Although Djokovic’s priority in recent years has been to focus on Grand Slam events, he admitted during his pre-tournament news conference that he’s encouraged by his current level of play and the way he feels on court.  

“I still want to do my best in slams, but, you know, of course I also would like to play well in other tournaments,” he said on Monday.

On Tuesday afternoon, the World No. 11 Djokovic, seeded 10th this week, opened against the big-serving 27th-ranked Valentin Vacherot of Monaco, who came in 9-1 on hard courts this season highlighted by his title-winning run at Basel last week. He looked to master Djokovic for the second-straight time after defeating him in the semifinals of the Rolex Shanghai Masters last year.

As it happened, Djokovic pulled off a hard-fought and well-deserved victory over the 27-year-old Monegasque, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-1, to move into the second round against 83rd-ranked Australian qualifier Rinky Hijikata. He got better as the first-round tussle wore on and persevered through a mid-match right shoulder issue that received medical attention. Overall, it was a job well done for the 24-time major champion.

Serving at 5-6 (15-40) in the opening set, Djokovic saved a trio of set points to gain a deuce point after his first serve dug him out of trouble. Then, he saved another set point with an overhead volley smash winner. Soon, Djokovic held serve for 6-all and forced a tiebreaker after winning a 17-shot rally that was sealed with a crafty, angled cross-court backhand winner at the net. However, Vacherot won the tie-break 7-5, garnering the last four points in a row, for a one-set lead after 50 minutes of play.

Next, after breaking Djokovic in the opening game with a backhand winner, Vacherot took a 2-1 lead before Djokovic broke back to level the set at 2-all. Later, he broke Vacherot, again, to win the set 7-5 and it was on to a decider after nearly two hours.

Djokovic wasted little time in breaking Vacherot in between a pair of solid holds to build a 3-0 lead in the final set and, soon, increased the margin to 4-1. He broke Vacherot for the second time in the set and fourth time in nine opportunities across the match. Finally, Djokovic won on his second match-point opportunity with a backhand winner to cap a three-shot rally.

After being congratulated by Vacherot at the net, Djokovic raised his arms in celebration and waved to the crowd, who applauded appreciatively for him throughout the two-and-a-half match. Djokovic finished with 27 winners to 26 unforced errors, won 72 percent (54 of 75) of his first-serve points, saved six of seven break points and converted four of nine chances. He outpointed Vacherot 112-96. By comparison, Vacherot fired 22 aces and hit 45 winners overall. He committed 51 unforced errors.

Djokovic’s latest triumph was his 21st of the season in 30 outings and he’s won six straight in Paris going back to his 2023 title run. He’s also the oldest match winner in tournament history, surpassing Hall of Famer Jimmy Connors, who was also 39 when he won a round in 1991. 

“I expected a match like this to be honest, with very few opportunities to break for me,” Djokovic said during his on-court interview with ATP Media. “He has a tremendous serve. It is huge, both first and second. For a set and a half, I had difficulty reading his serve and even if I guessed right, it was coming with some speed. It is hard to play someone like that, doesn’t give you many opportunities and puts additional pressure on your service games.

“The third set was really good but very tiring physically, a lot of long rallies. … I am still there, still hanging on and still giving it whatever I can, trying to find my best level when it matters.”

Looking ahead, Djokovic current is in 11th in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin with 2,940 points. He must finish inside the top nine in the Live Race to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals. Meanwhile, Rafael Jodar of Spain, who played his second-round match against Casper Ruud of Norway on Court Central Tuesday evening, is currently ninth in the Live Race with 3,234 points – 294 points clear of Djokovic.

However, Jodar ran up against a very in-form Ruud, who won 71 percent of his service points (37 of 52) and converted three of four break points to defeat Jodar, 6-3, 6-4, in one hour and 18 minutes. He hit 19 winners, made just 17 unforced errors and outpointed Jodar 61-48,

As a result of Jodar’s loss, it meant that Flavio Cobolli of Italy has qualified in the PIF Live Race To Turin for the Nitto ATP Finals. He’s the fifth of eight qualifiers, joining Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz, Ben Shelton and Daniil Medvedev.

Borges takes advantage when opportunity knocks

When Nuno Borges woke up Tuesday, after a day of waiting and waiting some more, he knew the chances were good that he might rise to the top of the lucky loser list – and he did. At about 11 a.m., just a couple of hours before he walked out on Court Central inside Plenitude Arena, Borges learned that he would be a lucky loser replacement for World No. 17 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain, who withdrew earlier with a back injury.

The opponent for Borges would be none other than 132nd-ranked wild card Moise Kouame of France, a highly-touted French protigy and Paris native, who two days ago won an ATP Challenger Tour title in Brest and was rewarded with a prime Court Central assignment.

However, in just 63 minutes, Borges defeated the 17-year-old French teenager, who appeared low on energy, 6-3, 6-1. The 49th-ranked Portuguese player put his tour-level experience and endurance to work. It also helped that he already had qualifying-draw matches from the weekend under his belt: a three-set win over Adrian Mannarino of France and a straight-set loss to Alex Molcan of Slovakia.

Borges hit 17 winners, won 81 percent (26 of 32) of his first-serve points, converted four of nine break-point chances without being broken and outpointed Kouame 59-40.

When it came time to sign the camera lens after he came off the court, a happy, smiling Borges wrote: “2nd chance Merci, Paris ❤️.”

“Even though I had a loss already coming in here, it’s nice to have two matches to prepare on these courts,” Borges said during his on-court interview with ATP Media, after improving to 31-28 in all competitions this season. “I feel like I had a little more preparation than he did. I thought I used it very well. I felt very confident today even though I was a bit nervous; it’s a big stadium. I thought I did a pretty good job handling the situation, in tough moments playing my game. I’m very happy with the win.”

Now, after losing in the first round to Alejandro Tabilo and Learner Tien in each of the past two years in Paris, Borges is through to the second round against World No. 25 Karen Khachanov of Russia on Wednesday.

A salute of thanks for Monfils

Gaël Monfils was honored by the Rolex Paris Masters on the occasion of his retirement from professional tennis Tuesday evening. In a 20-minute ceremony in between matches on Court Central, the athletic and entertaining Monfils was introduced by longtime voice of the tournament Marc Maury and feted by tournament director Cedric Pioline and Gilles Moretton, President of the Fédération Française de Tennis. Several of Monfils’ French teammates came out to share hugs with Monfils, including: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gilles Simon and Richard Gasquet. Monfils also spoke to the capacity crowd who filled Plenitude Arena.

After turning professional in 2004, Monfils won 13 singles titles and reached a career-high ranking of World No. 6. He compiled a win-loss record of 588-360 during his 22 years competing on the ATP Tour.

Around the Rolex Paris Masters

• A quintet of American men advanced to the second round in Paris on Tuesday.

World No. 4 and third seed Ben Shelton breezed to a 6-3, 6-4 victory over No. 45 Cameron Norrie of Great Britain in just 71 minutes on Court Central to highlight Tuesday’s evening session. Locked in from first ball to last ball, Shelton (42-18) equaled his personal-best 42 wins in a season (set in 2024) and extended his win-loss record versus fellow left-handers to 9-2 in 2026. The American No. 1, who improved to 9-6 at ATP Masters 1000 events this season, struck 17 winners and converted three of six break points. He outpointed Norrie 62-45.

No. 11 seed Taylor Fritz won his tour-leading 11th indoor match of the season with a comeback 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over 95th-ranked French qualifier Benjamin Bonzi on Court 1 that featured 20 aces and 30 winners overall from the southern Californian.

Also, on Court 1, No. 12 seed Tommy Paul fought past 2022 Paris champion Holger Rune of Denmark, 7-5, 6-4, to collect his 47th win of the season, and No. 15 seed Learner Tien went the distance to beat 56th-ranked lucky loser Adolfo Daniel Vallejo of Paraguay, 6-3, 5-7, 7-5. On Court 2, No. 35 Alex Michelsen rallied to upset 21st-ranked Jiri Lehecka of Czechia, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4.

• No. 46 Quentin Halys, one of 10 players from France in the main draw, brought joy to the French fans filling Court 1 Tuesday afternoon for his first-round match against Great Britain’s Arthur Fery. 

By the conclusion, Halys became the third Frenchman to earn 25 tour-level wins in 2026 after defeating the 32nd-ranked Fery, 7-6 (6), 7-5, in an hour and 38 minutes behind 38 winners, including 17 service aces, to earn his first Paris Masters win in three tries. Next, Halys will face No. 7 seed Frances Tiafoe of the United States in Wednesday’s second round.

Meanwhile, No. 68 Arthur Rinderknech of France advanced by injury retirement over No. 16 seed Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina, leading 3-6, 7-6 (2), 2-0 after an hour and 39 minutes on Court Central. Next, Rinderknech will face 66th-ranked Italian qualifier Mattia Bellucci.

Cerundolo, who served for the match at 5-4 in the second set, was unable to play through an ailing back and conceded the first-round match after losing the first two games of the decider.

• Also advancing to the second round: No. 31 Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina upset No. 22 Andrey Rublev of Russia, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3); No. 39 Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany took out No. 44 Arthur Gea of France, 7-6 (3), 6-3; and No. 43 Mateo Berrettini of Italy, a quarterfinalist last week in Vienna, pulled off an upset of No. 14 seed Brandon Nakashima of the United States, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (8), after saving two match points.

• No. 13 seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain (back) and Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece (right shoulder) withdrew before their first-round matches on Tuesday. They were replaced by Nuno Borges of Portugal and Adolfo Daniel Vallejo of Paraguay.

• In doubles, advancing to the second round: No. 5 seeds Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori of Italy; No. 6 seeds Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz of Germany; Petr Nouza of Czechia and Michael Venus of New Zealand; and Robert Cash and Brandon Nakashima of the United States.

Tuesday’s Paris Masters results

Wednesday’s Paris Masters order of play

By the numbers

As World No. 10 Rafael Jodar lost 6-3, 6-4 to Casper Ruud Tuesday evening in a rematch of their Shanghai quarterfinal last month, won by the 20-year-old Spaniard, he was denied in his attempt to reach the Round of 16 at his sixth consecutive ATP Masters 1000 event.

“Quotable …”

“Winning gives you a lot of confidence. At this tournament I really want to do great, at some point. Coming into this week, being the champion of Vienna, [I got] a lot of experience, rhythm and confidence.

“I just hope to deliver great tennis and a great level this week. Excited and looking forward to playing my first match.”

– World No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, during his pre-tournament news conference Monday. Alcaraz will face either Jiri Lehecka of Czechia or Alex Michelsen of the United States in his first match on Wednesday.

 

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