French Open: Did Novak Djokovic get schedule wish for Joao Fonseca match? What will temperature be in Paris?
Novak Djokovic will for the second match in a row play in the blazing heat at Roland Garros as organisers appear to have gone against their own interest for his match against Joao Fonseca.
After opening his 2026 French Open campaign with a night match against Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard on Court Philippe-Chatrier on Sunday, Djokovic’s second-round match against Valentin Royer took place in the middle of the day with the action getting underway at 15:50 in Paris.
Having needed four sets to beat Mpetshi Perricard, the third seed also dropped a set against Royer and afterwards he admitted the “very difficult conditions” played a part in him losing the third set, but he still went home with a comfortable 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (7-9), 6-3 win.
Up next is rising star Fonseca and Djokovic suggested the Brazilian youngster favours playing at night as he said during his post-match press conference: “I think he’s a big stage player. He really loves the occasion. Loves to play night sessions.”
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He later added: “It’s going to be another tough match in terms of physicality, exchanges, rallies long, I mean I don’t know if it’s going to be night or day that that will also you know determine the way I play maybe in certain things against them because of the ball bounce because of the speed of the court and etc.
“I think in few days’ time again another extremely hot day. So these days have been really, really very challenging you know for I think a lot of players you know to play on the court.”
He later revealed to Serbian media that Roland Garros organisers wanted Friday’s blockbuster encounter against Fonseca to be at night on Philippe-Chatrier.
“The organisers said they would like me to play in the night session because of the ticket sales. And of course, little Fonseca is an excellent player in both day and night so it’s hard to put him not at night,” he said.
“There is a difference between how the ball reacts during the day and at night. We will see.”
Yet, when the order of play was released for day six, the Djokovic-Fonseca clash was scheduled as the third match on the main showpiece court, as it will take place after the Iga Swiatek-Magda Linette, and the Mirra Andreeva-Marie Bouzkova matches.
The encounter won’t start before 15:30 and Paris has another severe high temperature warning with the temperatures set to range between 31 and 34 degrees Celsius between 12 and 19:00.
Fonseca has played two afternoon matches so far as his opening clash against Luka Pavlovic started 17:20 on Sunday, while his second-round encounter against Dino Prizmic kicked off at 17:45.
