French Open Day 1 - Djokovic fights through, but how did he look?
The Tennis Podcast
David Law
4.5 • 2.6K Ratings
🗓️ 25 May 2026
⏱️ 69 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
At the end of a hot and steamy day in Paris, Catherine, David and Matt wrap up the main results from Roland Garros, headlined by Novak Djokovic’s win in the night session.
Part one - Men’s results. We cover Djokovic’s four set win over Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, assess just how much trouble he was in, and whether he can use this performance as a springboard. We also go in depth into Nishesh Basavarredy’s journey after his excellent win over Taylor Fritz. Elsewhere there’s chat about Alexander Zverev’s victory, Joao Fonseca setting up a meeting with Dino Prizmic, a typical Alejandro Davidovich Fokina experience, and our first watery shits moment of the tournament.
Part two - Women’s results (35:17). We start with Hailey Baptiste’s thrilling win over Barbora Krejcikova as she survived two match points against her. How does she keep doing this? There’s also drama to discuss between Magda Linette and Tereza Valentova, an emotional win on a tough day for the incredibke Marta Kostyuk, and reports on Fran Jones and Caty McNally’s impressive comeback wins.
Part three (56:46) - We introduce and crown Mousquetaire of the Day before a look ahead to Monday’s order of play.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the tennis podcast coming to you from the grounds of Roland Garros on day one of the 2026 French Open. |
| 0:19.1 | It is shortly before midnight here in Paris, |
| 0:22.1 | although it doesn't feel like it. |
| 0:24.1 | It feels more like a sticky Melbourne evening. |
| 0:26.9 | We are sat on our usual spot at the far end of the grounds |
| 0:30.4 | with caught Suzanne Longland in the near distance. |
| 0:33.3 | And over on the horizon is caught Philippe Chattrier, |
| 0:36.5 | where we and 15,000 other people here have been watching the Novak Djokovic show. |
| 0:43.5 | He has just beaten 6'8-inch Giovanni Peshi Perikar 5-7-75-6-1, 6-4 in two sweaty hours and 41 minutes under the lights in the first night |
| 0:56.7 | session on Chatea of the tournament. |
| 0:59.6 | And he's given us a lot to talk about, has Novat Djokovic, as we've come to expect from |
| 1:05.1 | him in these dying days of his career. |
| 1:09.0 | Matt, you were there in the stadium for most of this. |
| 1:12.1 | Did you have fun? |
| 1:14.4 | Did actually. |
| 1:16.2 | And I think the different vibe of this night session to most of the ones we've experienced in Paris here before did help. |
| 1:25.8 | And I'm talking there, yes yes about the weather because I've |
| 1:29.5 | worn three maybe four layers for night sessions here in the past and being cold needed one of |
| 1:36.8 | those blankets that they give out to people whereas you know it's just in my shorts and the t-shirt and |
| 1:42.8 | okay a bit sticky a bit hot but generally comfortable and pleasant and it was it's just in my shorts and the t-shirt. And, okay, a bit sticky, a bit hot, but generally comfortable and pleasant. |
| 1:46.8 | And it was, it's a nicer vibe. |
| 1:48.9 | It did feel more like Melbourne. |
... |
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