Novak Djokovic, who took a surprise wild card to play in Acapulco this week, had a hearty reception at the event venue during his first practice session, with crowd thronging to see him in action. Post his practice, the World No. 2 spent a lengthy amount of time engaging with his gathered fans, signing autographs and even briefly interacting with them.

The Mexican Open will be Djokovic’s first ATP tournament since he crashed out of the Australian Open in the second round. The Serbian is the only second player ranked either as the World No. 1 or World No. 2 to play the tournament, since Gustavo Kuerten played the event in 2001 as the reigning World No. 1.

Djokovic, however, has some tough opponents standing in his path in the tournament draw. The top-seed will play Martin Klizan in the first round and could face a familiar nemesis in Juan Martin del Potro in the second round. His probable quarter-final and semi-final opponents are Nick Kyrgios and Dominic Thiem respectively.