PARIS: Novak Djokovic battled from behind to keep his dream of winning a 25th major crown at Roland Garros alive, while Alexander Zverev enjoyed a more comfortable first-round victory as the clay-court Grand Slam got underway on Sunday. Lifting the Coupe des Mousquetaires for a fourth time would send the 39-year-old Djokovic clear as the player with the most major titles in the history of the sport. Djokovic&#39;s last Grand Slam title came at the US Open in 2023, and with double-defending Roland Garros champion Carlos Alcaraz missing through injury, he knows this is a big chance to seal that elusive quarter century of crowns. But that dream looked in jeopardy in his opening match against the big-serving Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, who was playing in front of a vocal home support in the night session on Court Philippe Chatrier. The Serb had to deploy all of his expertise as a returner to finally find a way to break the 2.01-metre Mpetshi Perricard&#39;s serve as he fought back to win 5-7, 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 in just under three hours on court. &quot;The match, it was very challenging, obviously mentally,&quot; Djokovic told reporters after making a record 82nd appearance at a major. &quot;First set, zero chance on him serving. It&#39;s one of the most tremendous serves in terms of precision and speed that I have ever faced in my career. &quot;Obviously, the crowd gets into it and you feel the pressure even more. All in all, it was a good match to be part of. &quot;Three hours, just what the doctor ordered at age 39.&quot; After struggling with a shoulder issue that caused him to miss the vast majority of the clay-court swing, Djokovic&#39;s victory over the former world number 29 was his first on the red dirt in 2026. He will meet another Frenchman in Valentin Royer in the second round after the world number 74 beat Bolivian qualifier Hugo Dellien. &#39;Thoughts to Ukraine&#39; Under a blazing sun earlier in the day, German second seed Zverev eased past France&#39;s Benjamin Bonzi 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. The 29-year-old said it was &quot;always nice to start with a straight-sets win&quot;, and he will doubtless have been glad to spend as little time on court as possible with the thermometer going past 30C in the French capital. The only blip for Zverev in an otherwise polished performance was conceding a break of serve in the second frame against the world number 95 but he swiftly righted course to claim that frame. He will next face Czech Tomas Machac, who earlier beat Belgium&#39;s Zizou Bergs 6-4, 6-4, 6-3. Karen Khachanov of Russia also advanced into the second round with a straight-sets win over French wild card Arthur Gea. Czech 26th seed Jakub Mensik made similarly short work of another French invitee, Titouan Droguet, as the 20-year-old strolled through 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. Brazilian 19-year-old Joao Fonseca put on a clinical display to see off hometown qualifier Luka Pavlovic without dropping a set. Taylor Fritz, the seventh seed, again suffered another early exit from Roland Garros as the American went down 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (9/11), 6-1 to his 148th-ranked compatriot Nishesh Basavareddy. Former French Open winner Barbora Krejcikova was another high-profile departee as the world number 41 was eliminated 6-7 (7/9), 7-6 (8/6), 6-2 by American 26th seed Hailey Baptiste. She was joined in exiting Roland Garros by fellow former major winners Emma Raducanu and Sofia Kenin. Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk earned her 12th consecutive win on clay as she eased past Oksana Selekhmeteva, who was born in Russia but obtained Spanish nationality four days ago, 6-2, 6-3. The Madrid Open champion then revealed that her family home in Kyiv was nearly struck by a Russian missile during a massive bombardment of the Ukrainian capital earlier on Sunday. &quot;This morning, 100 meters from my parents&#39; house, a missile fell,&quot; the 15th seed said. &quot;All my thoughts and all my heart was to the people of Ukraine today. My biggest example are Ukrainian people today.&quot; Swiss 11th seed Belinda Bencic opened play on Court Philippe Chatrier with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Austrian qualifier Sinja Kraus. Russian teenager and eighth seed Mirra Andreeva navigated her way past 181st-ranked Fiona Ferro of France in straight sets.

Tennis

Djokovic fights back from a set down to beat Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in a tough Roland Garros opener and keeps his chase for a 25th Grand Slam title alive.

Djokovic fights through tough Roland Garros opener, Zverev strolls

ROME: World number one&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/aryna-sabalenka-downs-naomi-osaka-to-reach-madrid-open-quarterfinals" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Aryna Sabalenka</a>&nbsp;said Tuesday she was ready to boycott the Grand Slam tournaments in order to have a greater share of the prize money. &quot;I feel like the show is on us. Without us there wouldn&#39;t be a tournament and there wouldn&#39;t be that entertainment,&quot; the four-time Grand Slam winner told a press conference at the Italian Open. &quot;I feel like definitely we deserve to be paid more percentage. &quot;I think at some point we will boycott. I feel like that&#39;s going to be the only way to fight for our rights. &quot;We girls can easily get together and go for this because some of the things I feel like it&#39;s really unfair to the players. I think at some point it&#39;s going to get to this.&quot; Last year almost all the leading players signed two letters to the four Grand Slam bosses demanding an increase in prize money, payments into a player welfare fund to improve retirement and maternity benefits, as well as involvement in decisions that affected them. The letters set a target of a 22% share in tournament revenue, which would bring the majors in line with the nine combined 1000-level events run by the ATP men&#39;s tour and the women&#39;s WTA tour. However, Poland&#39;s Iga Swiatek, a four-time French Open singles champion, believes boycotting tournaments &quot;is a bit extreme&quot;. &quot;I think the most important thing honestly is to have proper communication and discussions with the governing bodies so we have some space to talk and maybe negotiate,&quot; said Swiatek, who has also won Wimbledon and the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/us-open-finalist-anisimova-beats-noskova-to-win-beijing-title" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">US Open</a>. &quot;Hopefully before Roland Garros there&#39;s going to be an opportunity to have these types of meetings and we&#39;ll see how they go.&quot; On Monday, players said in a statement that an announcement by the French Open last month of a 9.5% prize money rise was not good enough. It said that last year Roland Garros generated &euro;395 million ($463 million), a 14% increase. However, the total purse went up by just 5.4%, reducing player share of revenue to 14.3%. It estimated that this year&#39;s revenues would pass &euro;400 million ($468.1 million), leaving the player cut still below 15%.

Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka reacts after winning a point to US' Hailey Baptiste during their 2026 WTA Tour Madrid Open tennis tournament singles match at the Caja Magica in Madrid, on April 28, 2026. (AFP)

The Belarusian says players should consider boycotting Grand Slams to demand a larger share of prize money, arguing they deserve higher payments and stronger control over tournament revenue distribution. 

Aryna Sabalenka ready to boycott Grand Slams over prize money

MELBOURNE: Carlos Alcaraz swept past Novak Djokovic to win his first <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/maria-beats-williams-in-golden-oldies-final-at-australian-open-warmup" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Australian Open</a> on Sunday and become the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam, denying the Serbian great an unprecedented 25th major. The Spaniard was imperious after a slow start in dismissing the 38-year-old, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5 on Rod Laver Arena to claim a seventh Slam title and cement himself as undisputed world number one. He becomes the youngest man in the Open era to win all four majors, adding to his two titles each from Wimbledon and the French and US Opens. At 22, he surpassed legendary countryman Rafael Nadal -- in the crowd to witness the feat -- who was 24 when he did the same. A seventh Slam put him alongside John McEnroe and Mats Wilander and one behind Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl. &quot;Lifting the trophy for the first time in Australia was crazy,&quot; &nbsp;Alcaraz said, before writing on a TV camera lens: &quot;Job finished. Four out of four complete.&quot; He added: &quot;A dream come true. I dreamt about getting an Australian Open and completing the career Grand Slam.&quot; He paid tribute to <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/djokovic-stuns-sinner-to-set-up-australian-open-final-with-alcaraz" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Djokovic</a>. &quot;You were talking about how I&#39;m doing the things I am, but what you&#39;re doing is really inspiring, not only for tennis players but athletes around the world.&quot; It was a first defeat for Djokovic in a Melbourne final, having won all 10 previously, leaving him still searching for a landmark 25th major to better Australia&#39;s Margaret Court, who was also watching on centre court. Djokovic, striving to become the oldest man to lift a <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/djokovic-wins-record-400th-slam-match-to-power-on-in-australia" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Grand Slam</a> singles trophy, last won one at the US Open in 2023. Since then Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have dominated. &quot;I must be very honest and say that I didn&#39;t think I would be standing in the closing ceremony of a Grand Slam again, so I owe you the gratitude of pushing me forward in the last couple weeks,&quot; Djokovic said, speaking to the fans in the stadium. He went on to hint this could be his last time at Melbourne Park. &quot;God knows what happens tomorrow, let alone in six months or 12 months, so it has been a great ride.&quot; He also joked with Nadal in the stands, saying: &quot;There are too many Spanish legends. I feel like I was one against two tonight. It&#39;s not fair.&quot; Fighting fatigue Both men battled through five long sets in their semi-finals, Alcaraz against Alexander Zverev and Djokovic with Sinner, and recovery was always going to be key. But they showed few signs of fatigue in another gladiatorial contest. They both opened with comfortable holds before Djokovic was presented with the first break point chance at 2-1. Alcaraz saved it, but the aggressive fourth seed kept pressing and converted on his third, then consolidated for a 4-1 lead. Djokovic was reading Alcaraz&#39;s serve well and once he got in the rallies was authoritative, with a sensational forehand winner earning him two set points. He claimed the set in a statement 33 minutes, having dominated the big moments. It was vintage Djokovic, but Alcaraz upped the tempo to break for 2-1 in the second set, pumping his fist when he saved a break point and held in the next game. Djokovic put drops in his eyes and began rubbing them, unable to tame a now rampant Alcaraz, who broke again for 5-2. There were some sensational rallies that had the crowd on their feet in set three, which went with serve until Djokovic slapped a forehand wide under pressure to slip 2-3 behind. He gamely saved four set points at 3-5 but with his energy levels dropping was unable to save a fifth. On the back foot, Djokovic then saved six break points in an 11-minute opening service game in set four to stay alive. But Alcaraz ground him down and pounced as Djokovic served to stay in the match to seal a famous win. It ensured he remained world number one and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/djokovic-stuns-sinner-to-set-up-australian-open-final-with-alcaraz" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sinner</a>&nbsp;two, with Djokovic moving up a place to three.

This handout picture released by Tennis Australia on February 2, 2026, shows Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz poses with the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup at the locker room after defeating Serbia’s Novak Djokovic in the men’s singles final on Day 15 of the Australi

He becomes the youngest man in the Open era to win all four majors, adding to his two titles each from Wimbledon and the French and US Opens.

Alcaraz sweeps past Djokovic to win 'dream' Australian Open

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD:&nbsp;World number one Aryna Sabalenka retained her U.S. Open title on Saturday, defeating American Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) in straight sets at Arthur Ashe Stadium to claim her fourth Grand Slam crown. This title marks Sabalenka&rsquo;s second straight title in New York, making her the first woman since Serena Williams to win back-to-back US Opens. The Belarusian-based champion entered the match after losses in the Australian and French Open finals earlier this year. &#39;Super proud of myself&#39;&ldquo;Going into this final, I decided for myself that I&rsquo;m going to control my emotions. I&rsquo;m not going to let them take control over me,&rdquo; she told Reuters after the win. She added, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m super proud right now of myself.&rdquo; Anisimova, playing in her second Slam final, admitted the home atmosphere helped her stay in the match. &ldquo;They were really backing me, and I think that was really helpful to try and stay in the match,&rdquo; she said in comments reported by AP. She added that the closed roof made serving difficult, saying, &ldquo;I could not see the ball when I was serving&hellip; that made my serving today very, very difficult.&rdquo; 100th Grand Slam winThe victory marked Sabalenka&rsquo;s 100th Grand Slam match win as she celebrated with champagne and a pat on her trainer&rsquo;s head. With the title in hand, Sabalenka reinforced her reputation as the &ldquo;queen of hardcourts,&rdquo; Reuters reported. &ldquo;All those tough lessons were worth it for this one,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m speechless right now.&rdquo;&nbsp;

Aryna Sabalenka defended her US Open crown by beating Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 7-6 (7-3), becoming the first woman since Serena Williams to win back-to-back titles in New York and securing her fourth Grand Slam

Articles tagged with "Grand Slam"

Djokovic fights through tough Roland Garros opener, Zverev strolls

Aryna Sabalenka ready to boycott Grand Slams over prize money

Alcaraz sweeps past Djokovic to win 'dream' Australian Open

Sabalenka stands undefeated: retains US Open crown

Djokovic fights through tough Roland Garros opener, Zverev strolls