Preview: French Open First Round: Novak Djokovic vs. Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard - prediction

The quest for a fourth French Open title begins on Sunday for Novak Djokovic, who faces a tricky opening match against youthful Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.

Earlier this month, the Serbian was ousted from his round of 64 match at the Rome Open versus Dino Prizmic, 6-2 2-6 4-6, while Perricard got to the round of 32 at the Geneva Open before losing to Stefanos Tsitsipas, 4-6 6-7 (8-10).

Match preview

Beginning on Sunday, Djokovic will hope to turn around what has been a difficult 2026 season on tour, in part because of injuries.

He has not made it beyond the last 16 in either of his last two events after losing in the final of the Australian Open versus Carlos Alcaraz.

Major tournaments are where he always seems to thrive, reaching the semi-finals or beyond in five straight Grand Slam events.

The third-seeded player this year has never lost an opening round match in his career at Roland-Garros while failing to lose a single set on those previous 15 occasions.

On clay this year, he has captured 70% of his first serve points while winning 77% of his service games on that surface so far.

At the same time, the three-time winner of this event has converted 50% of his break points on clay in 2026 but has only won 15% of his return games.

It will easily be the biggest match of his young career so far, as Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard looks to pull off an improbable upset this weekend.

Despite Djokovic's dominance at this stage of the French Open, the Lyon-born player is coming off a strong showing in Bordeaux this month reaching the last eight of that event.

So far in 2026, the 22-year-old has not lost his opening match at a singles event on clay, advancing all the way to the round of 64 of the Rome Open earlier this year.

One of the hardest servers in the men’s game today, Perricard has won 68% of his first serve points on clay in 2026 while capturing 76% of his service games.

Facing Djokovic is sure to be the stiffest test of his career, but the Frenchman has two tour victories over top-10 players, upsetting Lorenzo Musetti and Taylor Fritz last year.

To this point of 2026, he has captured 53% of his second-serve return points but has only been able to convert 36% of his break-point opportunities.

We say: Djokovic to win in three sets

Unless another injury concern creeps up, we trust that Djokovic will thrive even against a player of Perricard’s power, as the Serbian always seems to play with an edge on the big stage.