![\"France's](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CY5J3HFPNZDEO2LOBEZNYMHYS4.jpg\")
France’s Arthur Fils had to withdraw from the French Open due to a hip injury.Manu Fernandez\/Associated Press<\/p>\nDjokovic lost to Croatian qualifier Dino Pri\u017emi\u0107 at the Italian Open in his only match on clay this year \u2014 after two months out due to a right shoulder injury.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to play more but my body was not allowing me,\u201d Djokovic said, adding he \u201cwas far from ready to compete\u201d in Rome. \u201cBut, still, I needed at least that one match just to have the score called by the chair umpire and have experience of the nerves before I eventually come to Roland Garros, which at that point I didn\u2019t know if I was going to be able to play or not.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThankfully, the response of the body and the preparation has been positive in the last 10 days, so here I am, and we\u2019ll see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n
Djokovic will also tie French players Richard Gasquet and Antoine Gentian with a men\u2019s record 22nd appearance at Roland Garros. He has reached at least the quarterfinals in 19 of the last 20 editions and raised the Coupe des Mousquetaires trophy in 2016, 2021 and 2023.<\/p>\n
Despite his reduced schedule of late, it should be remembered that he reached this year\u2019s Australian Open final where he lost to Carlos Alcaraz.<\/p>\n
With Alcaraz, the two-time reigning French Open champion, sitting out Roland Garros and Wimbledon with an injured right wrist, Djokovic sees a chance for himself in the lower half of the draw. He would meet top-ranked Jannik Sinner, who is on a 29-match winning streak, only in the final.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like if I\u2019m healthy and I\u2019m able to maintain that level of freshness throughout the tournament,\u201d the fourth-ranked Djokovic said, \u201cthen I feel like I have always a very good chance. I have proven that in Australia this year. \u2026 I always have that belief in me when I\u2019m on the court.”<\/p>\n
Along with 2015 champion Stan Wawrinka, who is playing his final French Open, Djokovic is the only former men\u2019s singles champion competing in Paris.<\/p>\n
The 80th-ranked Mpetshi Perricard is 6 feet 7 inches and known for his big serve. He\u2019s also French, which could make for a divided crowd on Court Philippe-Chatrier.<\/p>\n
France’s Arthur Fils had to withdraw from the French Open due to a hip injury.Manu Fernandez\/Associated Press<\/p>\n
Home hope Arthur Fils withdraws<\/p>\n
Arthur Fils, the top-ranked French player at No. 19, withdrew from the French Open on Saturday because of a hip injury.<\/p>\n
Fils had retired in the first set of his opening match at the Italian Open in his last Roland Garros warmup.<\/p>\n
The 21-year-old Fils said his hip \u201cwas bothering me a lot\u201d and while exams didn\u2019t reveal any issues he still felt \u201ca lot of pain.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I was not able to practice for the last two weeks. Actually, the practice today was my first-ever points since two weeks (ago) in Rome,\u201d Fils added. \u201cI will not be fit 100 percent to play the tournament, and I will not take any risk like I did last year. I don\u2019t want to be stupid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fils withdrew from last year\u2019s French Open after the second round due to a stress fracture in his lower back.<\/p>\n
Fils had performed well enough lately to give home fans hope that he might become the first French man to win Roland Garros since Yannick Noah in 1983.<\/p>\n
After missing the second half of last year due to his back injury, Fils had established a 22-7 record this year with deep runs in Doha; Indian Wells, California; Miami; and Madrid. He also won a clay-court title in Barcelona.<\/p>\n
Fils was slated to open against 41-year-old Wawrinka, who will face a qualifier instead.<\/p>\n
Play in Paris starts on Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Djokovic lost to Croatian qualifier Dino Pri\u017emi\u0107 at the Italian Open in his only match on clay this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3016,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1122,1861,115,1125,366,596,613,139,1121,1123,609,1862,606,113,1859,1860,28],"class_list":["post-3015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-novak-djokovic","tag-color-image","tag-forehand","tag-france","tag-french-tennis-open","tag-grand-slam","tag-horizontal","tag-international-tennis-federation","tag-novak-djokovic","tag-open-competition","tag-paris-france","tag-photography","tag-practice-round","tag-serbia","tag-sport","tag-sports-activity","tag-taking-a-shot-sport","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}