Novak Djokovic vs Mackenzie McDonald Tips, Prediction & Live Stream - Good opening round draw for Djokovic

Unbeaten at Roland Garros since 2022 following his title triumph in 2023 and his quarter-final withdrawal last season - along with a Gold Medal at the Paris Olympics in 2024 - Djokovic will be hoping to wind back the clock and produce another deep run after recently celebrating his 38th birthday. What a celebration it was too, with Djokovic finally capturing that elusive 100th career title in Geneva last week, joining Jimmy Connors and Roger Federer as the only men to have achieved that feat.

If those efforts haven't taken too much out of him, Djokovic has received one of the kindest possible opening round draws here. McDonald has only played two tournaments on European clay in the lead-up to Roland Garros, losing in Munich qualifying to a teenage ranked No. 549 before retiring in Madrid qualifying against Jerome Kym, ranked No. 133. Down to No. 98 in the world and clearly not in his best shape at the moment, McDonald isn't expected to pose any sort of threat here, so backing Djokovic to win Under 18.5 total games as the best bet in match where value is tough to find (this essentially is backing Djokovic to win in comfortable straight sets).

Somewhat surprisingly, this will be the first career meeting between the pair.

Djokovic comes into this clash with a 16-7 record on the season, but with his confidence sky-high after his exploits from last week.

After failing to win a proper tour-level title last year, Djokovic's long-standing pursuit of his 100th piece of silverware continued to elude him over the first few months of 2025 - including a disappointing loss in the final of the Miami Masters to Jakub Mensik, while he was also forced to retire injured in the Australian Open semi-finals.

Failing to win a single set on clay in his two previous tournaments in Monte Carlo and Madrid (losing to Alejandro Tabilo and Matteo Arnaldi), Djokovic entered Geneva with the intention of getting some much-needed match wins ahead of Roland Garros.

However, Djokovic managed to go all the way in the Swiss city, defeating Cameron Norrie and Hubert Hurkacz in back-to-back three-setters to secure the silverware.

The 38-year-old now turns his attention to Roland Garros, where the pressure is now somewhat off. The Serbian has won three French Open titles, which is an achievement in itself considering he had Rafael Nadal to contend with for all those years.

It's been a disappointing last 12 months or so for McDonald, who heads into this encounter with a 4-4 tour-level record this season and struggling for fitness.

McDonald hit his career-high ranking of No. 37 in 2023, but injuries have caused him to languish outside of the top 100 for the better part of the last 12 months.

Some decent results at Challenger level have propelled McDonald back into the top 100 at No. 98, but he's been struck down by injury again lately, only managing one completed match during the entire European clay swing.

As a result, the American enters Roland Garros extremely underdone and it would be a huge shock if he managed to trouble Djokovic after failing to win a match at this tournament since 2022.