Novak Djokovic started his bid for record-breaking 5th Paris Masters title having a 6-1, 7-5 win against Joao Sousa in the 2nd round on Tuesday and lent out a helping hand to a spectator in the process. Serving the match at 5-1, Djokovic gave a man standing in the crowd a towel as he seemed unwell and dizzy.
Djokovic also revealed that he was not feeling very well on the court. However, he did not comment in detail about it as he felt it was a minor thing. The second ranker Serb had set up a match point and sealed a win on his third match point when Sousa made a comeback to serve the second time.
Djokovic, who is a US Open champion, has won 4 out of five tournaments in which he entered, which includes the US Open, the Wimbledon as well as the most recent, Shanghai Masters. He now looks forward to reclaiming the top rank held by Rafael Nadal at a tournament where Nadal himself has never won. Djokovic is all set to face Damir Dzumhur next. The Australian Open runner-up, Marin Cilic has won the 2nd round match with scores 6-3, 6-4 against Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber.
Nadal, who has now made a comeback from the right knee injury, will now face Spanish countryman Fernando Verdasco on Wednesday, along with Roger Federer in the 2nd round against Milos Raonic. Federer made the last appearance at the indoor event in Paris which resulted in a third-round loss to John Isner in the year 2015.
Later on, there were doubts on whether Federer would play after a past week observed him miss out his 9th victory at the Swiss Indoors as well as 99th overall. Federer, 37, is very selective when he plays and always works to maintain a fresh body. However, he had to skip the entire season for the second straight year due to the injury.
