Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard whips a forehand winner down the line for 15-all but it's another solid hold for Novak Djokovic.

Anyone else think this first set is heading for a tie-break?

Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard holds to 15, including two aces.

However, his serve is outshone by another beauty of a forehand passing shot, chasing down a drop shot with quite the turn of pace.

Annabel Croft
Former British number one on BBC Radio 5 Live

Novak Djokovic looks like he's in automated mode.

I thought he might be nervous but he's not really giving me that impression - he's sort of floating around the court, almost mirroring the body language of his opponent.

Shot! Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard slides along the baseline to make a powerful forehand pass with Novak Djokovic at the net! 40-15.

It's only the second point Djokovic has conceded on serve in the match (the first was a double fault).

Unruffled, Djokovic completes the hold.

Annabel Croft
Former British number one on BBC Radio 5 Live

Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard has come into this arena, he looks extremely comfortable with his surroundings.

He's not in awe of facing Novak Djokovic.

Image source, Getty Images

If Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard's first serve is all pace, his second has been about placement, dragging Novak Djokovic off the court for 30-0.

Either side of that, he shows his eagerness to come inside the baseline - and with great success.

A brisk hold to love.

Image source, EPA

Novak Djokovic double faults for 15-all - an early error from the Serbian - but he's quickly back to his usual tricks, opening his racquet face and slicing a cute drop-shot winner.

He holds to 15.

*denotes next server

A sedate 197kph for Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard's first serve. Divide by eight... times by five... 122mph-ish?

The Frenchman is clearly keen to keep the points short, approaching the net sharply and putting away a volley for 40-15.

A tidy hold.

Novak Djokovic, who is in danger of camouflaging into the clay in his orange shorts and pale peach top, opens with a routine hold to love.

Unfortunately, we'll have wait to get a look at Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard's huge serve.

Novak Djokovic is serving first.

Off we go.

Image source, Getty Images

Hoping to end Djokovic’s 21-0 record in first-round matches at the French Open is Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.

The 22-year-old is one of 10 French players ranked inside the top 100 and won his first main draw match at Roland Garros last year, beating Zizou Bergs before exiting in the second round.

One of his two career titles has come on clay, winning the 2024 Lyon Open, as well as a Challenger title in Bordeaux last May.

Standing over two metres tall, Mpetshi Perricard is known for his ferocious serve, notably registering the fastest ever serve at Wimbledon (153mph) at the 2025 Championships. However, the slow nature of the clay means he’ll have to do more than blast Djokovic off the court to reach round two.

Image source, Getty Images

Novak Djokovic believes he has a “very good chance” of capturing a record 25th Grand Slam singles title.

The third seed, who turned 39 on Friday, has been tied with Margaret Court on 24 majors since lifting the 2023 US Open but has been unable to add to his tally despite reaching two finals and five semi-finals in his past nine Grand Slams.

Many expect the next fortnight to be a procession for world number one Jannik Sinner in the absence of two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz (wrist injury).

But Djokovic was defiant in assessing his own chances, pointing to his run to the Australian Open final – where he beat Sinner in the last four before losing to Alcaraz in four sets – as evidence he has another title in him.

“I am not really thinking about if I have a better chance or not with Carlos [Alcaraz] being here or not being here, because I feel that if I’m healthy and I’m able to maintain that level of freshness throughout the tournament… then I feel like I always have a very good chance," he said.

“I have proven in Australia this year where I was close to winning another slam. I always have that belief in myself when I’m on the court.”

Image source, Getty Images

Roland Garros has been a happy hunting for Novak Djokovic, who arrives in Paris searching for a record 25th Grand Slam singles title.

The world number four has won three titles from seven finals (plus an Olympic gold medal in 2024) and has only failed to reach the quarter-finals twice in 21 appearances. He’s yet to lose in the first round.

However, there are question marks about his match sharpness ahead of his first-round meeting with Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.

The 39-year-old has only played three tournaments and 11 singles matches (one of which was a walkover) in 2026.

His only outing on clay was a three-set defeat to Dino Prizmic in the round of 64 in Rome earlier in May – his first match anywhere since 12 March.

BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

You can follow commentary of Novak Djokovic's first-round match against Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra.

Tune your radio, head to BBC Sounds, or click the 'watch & listen' button at the top of this page.

It’s been a mixed day for the Brits. Fran Jones fought back from a set down to beat Beatriz Haddad Maia 1-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 – her first Grand Slam main draw win – but Emma Raducanu is heading home after losing 6-0 7-6 (7-4) to Solana Sierra.

Elsewhere, number two seed Alexander Zverev came through his first-round meeting with Benjamin Bonzi in straight sets but Tomas Etcheverry became the first men’s seed to fall. The 23rd seed lost to Nuno Borges 6-3 6-4 6-2.

Karen Khachanov, Jakub Mensik, Jaoa Fonseca, and Alejandro Davidovich all advanced to the second round, although Spanish 21st seed Davidovich did need five sets to see off Damir Dzumhur.

In the women’s draw, all of the seeds have so far come through unscathed, including straight-sets wins for Belinda Bencic, Mirra Andreeva, and Marta Kostyuk, who dedicated her win to Ukraine.

You can find all of the results and live scores from day one here.

It’s time for the night session, with three-time champion Novak Djokovic coming up against unseeded Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard on Philippe-Chatrier.

But first, let's recap what's happened so far on day one of the 2026 French Open.

Image source, Getty Images

That's all from us for now, but we'll be back to bring you live coverage of the night session match from Roland Garros a little later on.

On day one, that sees Novak Djokovic take on Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.

Emma Raducanu's tournament may be over, but fellow British player Francesca Jones is through to the second round after she defeated Beatriz Haddad Maia for first win at a Grand Slam.

You can read the latest reports from the French Open on our tennis page.

Catch you soon!

Annabel Croft
Former British number one on BBC Radio 5 Live

Nothing will replicate the matches you need going into a Slam. She's undercooked and it's understandable.

It will take time to build back up again.

This season has not gone to plan so far for Emma Raducanu, and she is clearly lacking in match sharpness after spending three months off the tour.

But there were some positive signs as she grew in confidence and belief towards the end there. Let's hope she can get some important minutes out on court over the coming weeks before Wimbledon.

Annabel Croft
Former British number one on BBC Radio 5 Live

If there was a positive to take out of this - and there were plenty of negatives, some of the lowest level tennis I've seen from her in a long time - but the one thing she did was fight and get back into it.

At one stage I thought she had a great chance to get into a final set. Who knows what would've happened if we'd got that.

She did enough to put the frighteners up her opponent.

She made it an interesting match but I think we didn't expect too much, did we?