'Encouraging in terms of playing the way I planned': Novak Djokovic starts strong in Monte-Carlo Masters

Novak Djokovic (No. 1) commented on his victory over Roman Safiulin (No. 37) in the debut of the 2024 Monte-Carlo Masters. The Serbian took just over an hour to secure a convincing 6-1, 6-2 win and advanced to the round of 32, where he will face the winner of the match between Arthur Fils (No. 36) and Lorenzo Musetti (No. 24).

The 3-times Monte-Carlo champion has not won two consecutive matches on the Country Club courts since 2019, when he was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Daniil Medvedev. This time, Nole delivered an impeccable performance following his disappointing third-round defeat in Indian Wells a month ago against Luca Nardi, who was ranked outside the top 100.

This is Djokovic's first official match since the end of his partnership with Goran Ivanisevic a couple of weeks ago. Now, the Serbian is working with his compatriot Nenad Zimonjic and has shown that he is starting the clay swing at a high level.

"Honestly I’m always slightly worried whether I’m going to start off wellon this surface because the last six, seven years haven’t been so great for me at the beginning of clay season. But last year I also started well in the first match, then I lost the second, so I’m hoping I can maintain this level that I had today in the next match.”

“Obviusly the matches will get only tougher from here, but it was very encouraging in terms of, you know, playing the way I planed and also the way I felt because I played only two tournaments this year, and you know, I haven’t really been up to par, so to say, with the tennis level”

Djokovic also talk about where he finding the motivation: “I really felt encouraged on the court with thw way, with how I was gouing through my emotions and obviously pushing myself to really excel every single match and tournament that I take part on”