In a rally early in the first set on Tuesday, David Goffin had Novak Djokovic on the run. The Belgian, one of the game’s purest ball-strikers, smacked forehands to each corner and seemed poised to finish the point with a winner. Except that the winner never came. Goffin hit four balls as well as he could hit them, but Djokovic, scrambling, sliding, and hyperextending, tracked them all down. Goffin eventually won the point, but it was pretty obvious from that rally that he was going to lose the war. How would he ever get the ball past Djokovic?
The answer was that Goffin, who at 5’11" and 152 pounds could most charitably be described as "wiry," was going to have to play out of his little shoes. And at times, he did. Goffin hit 32 winners to Djokovic’s 26, he made all three sets competitive, and he impressed the Parisian crowd, as he had in his fourth-round run here last year, with his flashy, flowing game. But if there was ever an example of the physical nature of tennis today, this match was it. Djokovic had three inches and 30 pounds on his opponent; throw in his speed and flexibility, and that was more than enough to neutralize Goffin’s hitting skills.
Yet all three sets in Djokovic’s 7-6 (5), 6-4, 7-5 win were hard-earned, and occasionally in doubt. The first one was also something of a shame. Goffin, who is 7-14 this year and falling fast in the rankings, played his best tennis of the season to get to 5-5 in a tiebreaker. But he chose that moment to show us why 2013 hasn’t been his year: Goffin, distracted by a fan’s shout, double-faulted to hand a set point, and a minute later the set, to Djokovic.
The second set came to a similar conclusion. Goffin broke Djokovic for 4-4, only to throw in another double fault at game point on his serve; the Serb broke back and ran out the set from there. In the third, disaster struck in a different way. With Djokovic serving for the match at 6-5, 0-30, Goffin played a brilliant point to set up what looked sure to be a winning overhead. But the lob was high, and his smash went long. Instead of 0-40, the score was 15-30. Djokovic won the last three points for the match.
Is the tight straight-set scoreline any reason for Djokovic fans to worry? Not in itself—Goffin, despite his recent slump, is a tough first-round opponent. What may be of concern is the way Djokovic, with a 4-3 lead in the second set, was broken at love; and the way he went down 0-30 when serving for the match. Both times he made uncharacteristic errors. When it came to closing out sets, there may have been some residual nerves from his loss to Tomas Berdych in Rome, a match Djokovic led 6-2, 5-2.
But Djokovic has made a career of bending without breaking, and he did it again today. He should feel more comfortable as a closer with this win under his belt, and the Berdych loss further behind him. We’ll see just how comfortable in his next match, against 83rd-ranked Guido Pella of Argentina. The two have never played.