Djokovic on Monfils: "He deserves a great deal of recognition for playing at such a high level at this age".

Novak Djokovic defeated Gaël Monfils for the twentieth time in as many meetings, 6-3, 6-3.

However, the Serb spoke about Monfils and paid tribute to him. His game suits me. We've already had some great battles. There have been matches where he was just a few points away from beating me.

A few years ago, in Dubai, he had match points and should have won. But he deserves a lot of credit for playing at such a high level at this age.

He's very athletic, he's a great guy, who's adored by millions of people, and not for nothing. He's a showman, with a lot of charisma.

He's been in the top 10, played in the last four of the Grand Slams, he loves that, and the big courts too.

In a way, it was a special match, pitting a 37-year-old against a 38-year-old on the tour for the first tournament of God knows what season of our careers. I enjoyed the match. I think it was a good quality match.