Yoshihito Nishioka vs Novak Djokovic 5/23/22 French Open Tennis Picks, Predictions, Odds

Novak Djokovic and Yoshihito Nishioka meet in the first round of the 2022 tennis French Open.

Novak Djokovic heads into this tournament in great form, as he just won the Italian Open, and he’s won 10 of his last 12 matches overall. Djokovic has won 15 of his last 17 sets, which is quite impressive given the late start he got to the season due to COVID-19 and vaccine issues. Djokovic enters the French Open as a top-three favorite and is playing arguably the best tennis of anybody in the field right now. Djokovic has not lost in the first round of a grand slam since the 2006 Australian Open. Djokovic has never lost in the first round of the French Open. Djokovic has won seven of his last eight matches on clay court.

Yoshihito Nishioka enters this tournament with four straight losses, as he hasn’t won a match on the main tour outside of qualifying since the Miami Open two months ago. Nishioka is coming off a qualifying loss in Lyon, where he won just 42 percent of his total service points and was broken five times. It wasn’t that long ago when Nishioka was a top-50 player in the world and a sneaky threat in draws, but right now he’s in rough form and will take whatever positives he can get. Nishioka has lost in the first round of a grand slam in four of his last six tries. However, Nishioka has advanced to the second round of the French Open in three straight trips. Nishioka has lost four straight matches on clay court.

Djokovic won both meetings against Nishioka in straight sets. The matches took place in the 2020 Australian Open and 2019 Davis Cup. Nishioka won a combined 10 games in those five sets.

Nishioka isn’t the easiest first round matchup for a top seed, but he’s had a rough go these last couple of months, and playing Djokovic isn’t what he needs to get on track. Heck, even in the two matches against Djokovic where he was playing meter, Nishioka was completely dominated. There’s nothing Nishioka can do with Djokovic given his current form.

Give me Djokovic in straight sets.