“A lot of intensity”: Djokovic survives Vacherot scare to become Paris’s oldest match winner
Novak Djokovic came from a set down to beat Valentin Vacherot 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-1, saving three break points that would have let the Basel champion serve for the match. At 39, the seven-time champion stays in the race for Turin.
Djokovic – Vacherot, Rolex Paris Masters 2026 | © Chryslène Caillaud / PsNewz
Anyone still in doubt had their answer at the Plenitude Arena: Novak Djokovic still has plenty to give. The Serbian came from a set down to beat Monaco’s Valentin Vacherot 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-1 in 2 hours 35 minutes on Tuesday in the marquee match of the first round of the Rolex Paris Masters. Speaking in French on court after the match, Djokovic summed it up as a day of a lot of intensity.
At 39, the seven-time champion and 10th seed became the oldest player to win a match at the event, ahead of Jimmy Connors, who was also 39 in 1991. He extended his own record to 51 wins in Paris. Djokovic also ended a run of four straight defeats at Masters 1000 level, the longest of his career. He had not won at that level since the round of 16 at Indian Wells in March.
The win also keeps his hopes of qualifying for the ATP Finals intact. He moves to 2,940 points in the Race to Turin and needs at least the semi-finals to stay in contention. Only the title would guarantee his place. Yet after the match, he answered with a firm “No” when asked whether Turin was his main drive this week. “To win every match,” he said.
He said it was his first time playing at the Plenitude Arena and that he found it impressive. Djokovic did not come to Paris in 2025, choosing instead the tournament in Athens, where he lives, held the following week.
Djokovic saves three break points at 4-4 in the second set against Vacherot
The first set went with serve. Serving at 5-6, Djokovic saved three set points, then led 5-3 in the tie-break before losing the last four points, two of them on his serve.
“I knew that coming onto the court it was going to be a very tight match, as it was,” Djokovic told reporters after the match. “He’s very confident, and he’s one of the best servers we have in the game. His second serves are also super aggressive. His second serves are faster than my first serve, so it was very tough to play against a guy in these kinds of conditions, which are really, really fast.” He added that players had described the court as completely different from last year, and much faster: “It’s like ice.”
Vacherot broke in the opening game of the second set to lead 2-0. Djokovic broke back for 2-2, then saved three break points at 4-4 that would have let the Monegasque serve for the match. At 6-5, he broke on his first set point to level at one set all.
“Very few opportunities that you get, and you try to capitalize on those opportunities. I didn’t do that the first two sets,” he said. “But I think when I broke his service back in the beginning of the second, I felt like I was in his service games more. I felt like I started to read his serves better and to be more in the rallies.”
The third set was one-way traffic, as if it was one too many for Vacherot, the Basel champion on Sunday and probably drained as a result. Djokovic led 3-0, had a break point for 4-0 and took the set 6-1 as Vacherot’s unforced errors piled up.
Vacherot’s winning run ends in Paris
Vacherot had beaten Djokovic 6-3, 6-4 in the semi-finals in Shanghai in 2025, in their only previous meeting, on his way to the title. He arrived in Paris on a five-match winning streak after his title in Basel on Sunday, where he beat Jiri Lehecka 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the final.
Djokovic will face Australian qualifier Rinky Hijikata, who beat Luciano Darderi 6-2, 6-2 on Monday, in the second round.
