The Adelaide International Centre Court exploded after Novak Djokovic entered the court for his first-round match.
On Tuesday, Djokovic kicked off his 2023 season with a dominant 6-3 6-2 win over Constant Lestienne.
Going into the match, many were curious in seeing in how would the Adelaide crowd receive Djokovic 12 months after the infamous Australia visa saga.
Here is a video posted by sports journalist Sasa Ozmo.
When #Djokovic entered the court š pic.twitter.com/CRNWxkN4tr
ā SaÅ”a Ozmo (@ozmo_sasa) January 3, 2023
Djokovic: I have moved on from what happened 12 months ago
Djokovic looked great in his first singles match back in Australia.
After the match was over, Djokovic admitted that the people of Adelaide have been absolutely ever since he arrived in the city early last week.
āI can say it was different coming into Australia this year than any other year certainly because of the events 12 months ago, but at the same time, 12 months is quite a long time, as well. Already itās behind me. Iāve moved on. Iām looking forward to coming because I always play very well and probably my best tennis throughout my career on Australian soil. I came in early, almost a week before my first match. Itās plenty of time. I donāt actually recall when I came that early to Australia, so I had plenty of time to adjust to the time zone and time difference, and just, I guess, adapt to whatever is waiting for me here, expecting me here. As I said, from day one people have been very kind, and generous with me and my team, so overall a great experience so far,” Djokovic said after the match, per Tennis Majors.
Meanwhile, Djokovic broke Lestienne in the sixth game of the first set and then held on to his serve to win the opener.
After winning the first set, Djokovic started the second set with back-to-back breaks and routinely closed out the match in two sets.
In the Adelaide round-of-16, Djokovic plays another Frenchman as next up for the Serb is going to be Quentin Halys.