As the rain tipped down over Paris (there was lots of it on Monday and there is plenty more to come… let the joy be unconfined), Novak Djokovic found himself at a bit of a loose end. He was happily clumping Joao Sousa in the first round when a someone unzipped a cloud above Court Philippe Chatrier and everything came to a standstill. In that terribly French way, no one wanted to make a decision about whether to abandon proceedings or just sit around with a few coffees and ciggies and discuss the situation so Djoko was forced to sit on in the wet and wait.

Behind him stood one of the ball boys, a young lad standing to attention and holding an umbrella over the superstar he had been appointed to serve. Djoko, being Djoko, asked him if he wanted to sit down. Er, yes, he did. If that was all right with Djoko. And so the two sat in the pouring rain and had a chat, as Djoko explained…. oh, and Djoko eventually won 6-1, 6-2, 6-4.