"I felt great: I moved fast, I served well, I did a few trick shots (exceptional shots)... Everything was fine!" Said the 35-year-old Frenchman.
The stiff neck that forced him to withdraw from the Adelaide 2 tournament a few days after winning the title at Adelaide 1 seems well forgotten, as he had planned.
"Guys, I'm back!" he told the crowd.
Last year, he left Melbourne in tears when he saw his complete helplessness in the first round.
On Friday, he will face the Chilean Cristian Garin (19th) to try to climb into the round of 16.
There should have been waiting for Novak Djokovic, but the latter having been expelled from Australia, the picture cleared.
© 2022 AFP