Novak DJOKOVIC makes statement return to action, thrashes Roman Safiullin at Monte-Carlo Masters

Crisis? What crisis. Novak Djokovic is back on court and is back in the winners' circle with a statement win in a tournament he is known to not be a huge fan of in the Monte-Carlo Masters. He thrashed Roman Safiullin 6-1, 6-2 on Tuesday afternoon and is into the third round.

Djokovic only needs the Monte-Carlo Masters for his collection in order to complete every tournament in Grand Slam, Masters 1000 and Year-End Finals thrice and showed again why he is not going anywhere as well as why that is likely to happen. Especially with Carlos Alcaraz withdrawing this afternoon.

Last seen being defeated shockingly by Luca Nardi at Indian Wells, Djokovic also split recently from long-time coach Goran Ivanisevic meaning that there was more questions than answers going into the clay court swing. Especially given that he has struggled at Monte-Carlo in previous years. But he looked to derail any sort of lack of optimism with this display. He said his expectations are low going into this tournament but that might change.

Winning in just over an hour and 10 minutes, Djokovic was berating himself despite hardly losing a point on serve. Losing just six points on serve in the entire match, he was utterly rampant and could've won it even easier. He opened the tie with an immediate break and show of intent at 1-0. He then surged 40-0 up on Safiullin's serve but nearly lost the game before sneaking through towards 4-0. Safiullin's serve was nearly lost again with the pressure really telling.

But he finally held and Djokovic eased through his service game and a final break for the opening set. From there, it was the tale of only two breaks in the middle and end of the set as Djokovic continued to remain untroubled on his serve. He took a break easily at 3-1 which set him on his way and two of the points out of the eight all game were next game as he came closest to losing a game but he didn't. Djokovic then eased through a final break to claim the win. Next is Arthur Fils or Lorenzo Musetti.