Djokovic celebrates 37th birthday with much-needed win

Novak Djokovic celebrated his 37th birthday on Wednesday with a much-needed win as he gears up for his French Open title defence, progressing to the Geneva quarter-finals.The world number one downed Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann 6-3, 6-3 in the second round at the Parc des Eaux-Vives grounds.With Wednesday’s win, the Serbian became just the third player in the Open Era to win 1,100 tour-level matches.Making his first appearance in Geneva this week, the 98-time tour-level titlist joins Jimmy Connors and Roger Federer as the only players to reach 1,100 tour-level match wins in the Open Era.Djokovic took a wild card to play in Geneva in a bid to rescue an alarming dip in form ahead of next week’s French Open, the second Grand Slam of the year.The crowd sang "Happy Birthday” to Djokovic as a cake with candles was brought out onto the court following his win.He lifted the cake and showed it off to the crowd, having a nibble before offering some to the ball boys and girls."That really touched me,” Djokovic said while thanking the crowd in his on-court interview. "I’m very happy to win on this special day. The key was the birthday,” he said."The birthday probably wouldn’t be the same if I didn’t win the match, but it’s nice to be here for the first time at this tournament, with my family coming here to support as well. I grew up with my aunt, uncle and two cousins for most of my life. We don’t get the chance to see each other that much lately, so it’s really nice. I’m getting some really quality time on the court, but also off the court,” he added.Thiem suffers qualifiers lossTwo-time finalist Dominic Thiem said a sad farewell to Roland Garros after the soon-to-retire Austrian was knocked out in the second round of qualifying on Wednesday. Thiem, the 2018 and 2019 finalist, went down 6-2, 7-5 to Finland’s Otto Virtanen and was then presented with a commemorative trophy by tournament director Amelie Mauresmo.Thiem was visibly moved as he spoke fondly of his connection with the French clay."Thank you for this marvellous goodbye,” the Austrian said as he received his trophy. "I have had so many good results, good memories and good moments on these courts, I’ll never forget it,” he said. Thiem has failed to go past the first round of the main draw in Paris since his 2019 run to the final and has dropped from World No.3 to 131 in the rankings.His career has been blighted by a niggling wrist injury and since his crowning moment in 2020 when he beat Alexander Zverev in the Covid-affected US Open final his career has nose-dived. The 30-year-old has already announced plans to retire from tennis at the end of the 2024 season.