Alejandro Davidovich Fokina finds solace with Funko Pop after baptism by French crowd

FLASHBACK: Davidovich Fokina enjoyed a much friendlier reception at the Mutua Madrid Open against Holger Rune.

PARIS—Alejandro Davidovich Fokina took on France herself in his first two matches at Roland Garros and emerged victorious, discovering at least one fan was in his corner after reaching the third round.

The pinnacle of himbo excellence is used to entertaining a crowd but has found himself in unfriendly territory for much of the first week when he drew French teens Arthur Fils and Luca Van Assche. After edging past Van Assche in straight sets, “Foki” returned to his chair and celebrated with Rocket Raccoon, a Funko Pop miniature from the Guadians of the Galaxy series.

“I will not have any words about that,” smiled the animal-loving Spaniard, keeping mum about how long he has kept the figurine in his bag.

The 23-year-old had more to say about the French crowd, who followed him from Court Simonne-Matthieu to the even more intimate Court 14 as he aimed to take down their hometown heroes.

“The stadium here on Court 14 was closer, and you had the people more like on top of you,” he signed in his post-match press conference. “It was a little bit difficult to don't put that focus on them. Then I was trying every point to forget about the people and just to focus on the court.

“It's never easy to play against two French guys. It doesn't matter their age, if they are old or they are young. The full crowd is going to be annoying, but I was focused on me to play every point to reach what I wanted, which is to win the match at the end.”

Crowd aside, Davidovich Fokina had good things to say about his young opponents, who both arrived to Paris with plenty of buzz—particularly Fils, who won his first ATP title in Lyon just last week

“Both players are very good players. For sure they're going to be tough players in the future. They are already Top 100. They are going to be a Davis Cup team for sure in the future.”

Davidovich Fokina may count on more crowd support in his next match when he reclaims the underdog role in a meeting with former world No. 1 Novak Djokovic.