By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, November 3, 2026
Photo credit: Screen Shot
Right arm pulled over his head, Novak Djokovic was stretched into pretzel position down a set and a break today.
Stretching out his arm during a medical timeout, Djokovic recovered to strong-arm Valentin Vacherot with closing power in the decider.
Seven-time Paris champion Djokovic defeated Vacherot 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-1 in a wild Rolex Paris Masters opener.
The match featured a combined 72 winners, 22 aces from Vacherot, a bungled forehand volley by Djokovic that cost him the opening tie break and unshakable spirit from the 39-year-old Serbian superstar, who became the oldest match winner in tournament history.
“For an old guy, not so bad,” Djokovic said in his on-court interview. “People think I’m too old, too slow, but somehow I managed to find a way to win this kind of matches—especially the ones that go the distance.
“I’m still there, still hanging on. Giving it whatever I can, trying to find my best level when it matters.”
Continuing his quest to qualify for his 19th ATP Finals in the last 20 years, Djokovic showed calm resilience, superior movement in the final set and the skill to stretch Basel champion Vacherot, who carried an imposing 9-1 record on indoor hard-courts this season into Paris.
Playing the event for the first time since he collected the 2023 title, Djokovic scored his sixth straight win in Paris, for his tournament-record 51st win.
“I mean I expected a match like this to be honest with very few opportunities to break especially for me. He has a tremendous serve—it’s huge both first and second,” Djokovic said. “For a set and a half I had a really difficult time to read his serve. Even if I guessed right where he was going to serve, I mean it was coming at such speed, 250 [kmh], 220, 225. Really hard to play someone like that doesn’t give you many opportunities at all the entire match and then puts additional pressure on your service game.”
Djokovic cited his first break of the second set as the turning point that allowed him to gain traction in the match.
“I had that first tie break, I missed that incredibly easy forehand volley. I don’t know what happened I just had a brain freeze,” Djokovic said. “Next thing you know I was down a set and down a break. He played one sloppy break to give me the break at 2-1 for him in the second and I was back in the match.
“From that point on, I was more in his service games. I had more looks. The third set was really good but it was really tiring physically with a lot of long rallies.”
The 10th-seeded Serbian will face Rinky Hijikata for a place in the round of 16. Aussie qualifier Hijikata swept Luciano Darderi, 6-2, 6-2, yesterday.
Today, Vacherot started the second set with the break, reeling off seven points in a row for a 7-6, 2-0 lead.
The Olympic gold medal champion took a medical time out for treatment of an apparent cranky right shoulder after the third game.
Facing a first break point, Vacherot lashed an ace down the T. Working the slice backhand more frequently to make his 6’4” opponent bend, Djokovic drew the error for a second break point.
Then, the world No. 27 brain cramped to gift the break. Djokovic hit a drive that Vacherot believed was going long. Though he had a clear play on the ball, Vacherot let it go only to see the ball land on the baseline as Djokovic leveled after four games.
The seven-time champion rallied from Love-30 down holding for 3-2—Djokovic’s first lead since he was up 5-3 in the first-set tie break.
The lanky Vacherot hit a sharp slider ace wide—his 17th ace of the match—rallying from Love-30 down to even it up. After Djokovic held in the seventh game, Vacherot took a medical timeout to have his left ankle re-taped.
After about a six-and-a-half minute delay, play resumed. Freezing his opponent a drop shot brought Djokovic break point. The Monegasque No. 1 saved break point with a sweeping forehand drive volley backed up by an ace out wide. Vacherot tamed trouble holding for 4-All.
Ninety-five minutes into the match, Vacherot won a backhand-to-backhand battle for a break point.
The Monegasque netted a forehand, but spun a forehand pass down the line for a second break point.
A patient Djokovic jerked his opponent side-to-side, eventually drawing a netted reply as Paris fans began chanting “Nole! Nole!” in encouragement.
Vacherot rallied from Love-30 down in the 12th game, but Djokovic angled an inside-out backhand off the sideline for a set point. A sharp-angled forehand from Djokovic opened the court before he drew a netted response, breaking to snatch the second set and force a decider after one hour, 54 minutes.
Vacherot left the court before the start of the decider.
Staring down a break point, Vacherot out-dueled an acrobatic Djokovic in a punishing point that ended with the man from Monaco conjuring a magical half-volley winner to save break point.
Going all in on a heavy second serve, Vacherot coughed up his third double fault to face a second break point. Again, Djokovic dipped the low slice that danced near his opponent’s shins and Vacherot slapped a response into net as Djokovic broke for 2-0.
A confident Djokovic stamped a love hold for confirmation and a 3-0 lead.
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While Djokovic elevated his game, Vacherot struggled to tame his forehand in the decider.
Targeting Vacherot’s extreme western grip forehands, Djokovic elicited netted errors breaking for the fourth time for a 5-1 lead.
On his second championship point, Djokovic belted a backhand down the line, ending a two hour, 35-minute victory with encouraging words for Vacherot at net.
