He had just steered a sliding, one-handed backhand around the net post and on to the line, an audacious winner that left his opponent, Roberto Carballés Baena, grinning ruefully. 

It is a tennis truism that no shot, however good, is worth more than one point, and yet it felt like a significant moment. After a turbulent season in which he has failed to reach a final and upended his support team, the Serbian world No 1 arrived in Paris admitting that he felt “a bit embarrassed” to articulate his ambitions. Now, here he was, gesturing to the crowd, demanding their acclaim, once more the strutting alpha male of the men’s locker’s room. 

It is too soon to say normal service has been resumed, but the 24-time grand slam champion can certainly draw encouragement from the commanding nature of his 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 win over Carballés Baena, even if the 31-year-old’s Spaniard’s solid baseline game offered a more straightforward challenge than he faced against the net-rushing Pierre-Hugues Herbert on Tuesday night. As he locked down his game from the baseline, served with trademark authority and conjured some sumptuous drop shots, Djokovic gave the impression of a man sharpening his tools for bigger battles to come. 

“There’s always that conviction and belief inside of me that I can win a slam,” said Djokovic, the defending champion, who at the age of 37 is chasing a fourth French Open crown. 

“That’s the reason why I’m still competing at this level, that’s why I’m here at this age. I wouldn’t be really competing at the slams and continuing to play professional tennis if I didn’t believe that I possess quality to go all the way to the title match. 

“I still sense that I have the game and I have the goods to go far. But as I said in the press conference prior to the start of the tournament, I don’t want to get too much ahead of the present day, because I haven’t had great form [in the] lead-up to Roland Garros, so I have to keep my expectations a bit lower. 

“Of course, hopes and beliefs and convictions are always there, always high, and I always aim for the highest stars, so to say. But I’m being very conscious of the present moment and what needs to be done on a daily basis to build my form as the tournament progresses, hopefully, and then peak at the right time, when it matters the most.”

Carballés Baena, the world No 63, enjoyed his best moments in the opening set, where the quality of his backhand, and in particular his ability to redirect the ball down the line, caught Djokovic cold on more than one occasion. But having recovered an early break with a combination of good returning and a pair of stellar drop shots, the Serb began to establish a metronomic rhythm from the baseline. 

It undoubtedly helped that he was facing a prototypical Spanish clay-courter who was rarely able to rush or discomfit him as the big-serving Herbert had done. Yet the manner in which Djokovic elevated his level as Carballés Baena served to stay in the opening set was no less impressive for that, the Serb drilling an unanswerable backhand winner, working the angles to win a 16-shot rally, and remaining rock solid in between. 

Having created the platform for a convincing win, the only blight on Djokovic’s afternoon was a run-in with a front-row spectator who distracted him as he chased down a drop shot late in the first set. The offender was warned by Nico Helwerth, the German chair umpire, and received a withering look from Djokovic as he went on to break. 

The incident followed Iga Swiatek’s impassioned appeal to the crowd not to call out during points following her epic second-round win over Naomi Osaka on Wednesday night, and David Goffin’s complaint that an unruly spectator spat chewing gum at him during his victory over Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard of France. Djokovic expressed support for the Belgian’s decision to speak out over about the behaviour of the partisan crowd, whom he accused of “total disrespect”.

“I saw a little bit of the highlights [from] Goffin’s match,” said Djokovic. They can be even more loud and inappropriate at times. It’s part of what we do, it’s part of sports.

“When [a] line is passed and it starts becoming disrespectful towards the player, in those instances I understand that a player like Goffin the other day reacted, because I’ve experienced quite a few times those particular situations. I support a player standing up against people who are disrespecting and heckling him. It’s not always possible to tolerate.”

Earlier in the day, the tournament director, Amélie Mauresmo, responded to the concerns raised by players by announcing a ban on alcohol in the stands. “Alcohol was allowed until now in the stands,” said Mauresmo. “Not in all the stands. That’s over.”

Elsewhere, Alexander Zverev followed up his opening-round win over Rafael Nadal with a 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, 6-2 win over Goffin. The German fourth seed will face Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands next. Daniil Medvedev, seeded fifth, advanced to the third round after Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia retired due to illness while trailing 6-1, 5-0. 

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Consigned to the boondocks of Court 5 for his first-round match against Roberto Carballes Baena, a 30-year-old Spaniard ranked 63 in the world, Rune made little attempt to disguise his displeasure. “In case you can[’t] find Court 5, this is where I play my first match Monday,” the Danish fourth seed wrote pointedly on social media at the weekend, alongside a map of the grounds. 

In the event, Rune will have been grateful that the latest lowlight of a wretched, injury-hit summer was not given a bigger stage. Struggling with his game and his body, the 20-year-old tumbled to a chastening 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 defeat as Carballes Baena claimed the first top-10 win of his career. 

It was the Spaniard’s second victory in three meetings with Rune, Carballes Baena having won in straight sets on the clay courts of Cordoba last year, and the Dane was quick to acknowledge the quality of his opponent, refusing to blame his show-court exile for the defeat even as he elaborated on his bafflement at the decision. 

“It’s not difficult, but it’s different,” said Rune. “You’re more close to all the people. It’s a nice atmosphere. So it’s no problem with the court. I just didn’t expect to play on that court.

“[The better] you get in the ranking, the more benefits you should get with playing in better conditions. I think that’s normal way, and it’s also how the ATP do [things] with all the players. But they didn’t do it with me here.  

“That’s obviously disappointing, but [I’m] not going to blame the court [for] the loss. He played very, very solid. Credit to him.

“I played probably more matches on outside courts in my life than big courts, so all good.”

Be that as it may, the controversy was clearly a distraction to Rune, who agreed with the suggestion of Peter Bastiansen, a former ATP player turned Danish TV pundit, that the scheduling showed a “lack of respect”. It was not the only distraction he would encounter. Court 5 is situated in the middle of a bank of three courts on the west side of Arthur Ashe Stadium, and the attendant plethora of sights, sounds and smells provides ample opportunity for the focus to wander. 

Amid the hustle and bustle, Rune certainly looked as though his mind was elsewhere, occasionally labouring physically and racking up an uncharacteristic 43 unforced errors. A dozen of those came in the first set, where the Dane was broken in the fifth game. More alarming for Rune than the score-line, however, was Carballes Baena’s ability to grasp the nettle in the baseline exchanges. Only in the second set, where the Spaniard’s level dropped, was Rune able to make his signature counter-punching tell. Eleven of Carballes Baena’s 21 unforced errors came in that passage of play, but his resilience was formidable down the stretch, where his error-count dropped to zero.

The past two months have been difficult for Rune. Since a successful grass-court season that brought a first semi-final at Queen’s Club and a maiden Wimbledon quarter-final, the Dane has struggled with a back injury. Beaten by Marcos Giron in his opening match in Toronto, Rune was forced to retire at a set and a break down against Mackenzie McDonald in Cincinnati. Rune’s limited activity and physical difficulties – he received treatment here for a problem with his left knee – have clearly left him well short of his usual sharpness. 

“It’s not ideal that I didn’t get more matches coming into this tournament, because the body, it’s hard if you’re not in the rhythm,” said Rune. 

It’s also hard if you’re focusing on scheduling decisions over which you have no control, and Rune would do well to take a leaf out of Caroline Wozniacki’s book. Six years ago, his compatriot was also assigned to Court 5 in the opening round only for the weather to intervene, resulting in the match being moved to Court 17. Importantly, though, Wozniacki kept her counsel until after the contest, only taking aim at the original decision following a three-set loss to Ekaterina Makarova. Moral of the story? Play first, complain later.

There were no such problems for the returning Wozniacki this time around, the former world No 1 sweeping past Tatiana Prozorova 6-3, 6-2 to set up an intriguing second-round meeting with Petra Kvitova, the 11th seed and former Wimbledon champion.

Maria Sakkari, seeded eighth, was another early casualty, falling 6-4, 6-4 to Rebeka Masarova, the Spanish world No 71. It was the Greek eighth seed’s third successive defeat in the opening round of a slam, and she cut a distraught figure afterwards, suggesting she may take a period away from the game.

“I just feel like my level was, and has been, poor, and I have to do something about it,” said Sakkari. “It’s very uncertain now, I don’t know what I’m going to do, whether I’ll take a break or not.”

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