For four or five days after being defaulted from the U.S. Open, Novak Djokovic did some serious soul searching.

Then he got back on the tennis court — and since then it’s been fairly straightforward, at least in terms of results.

Dropping only one set all week, Djokovic won his fifth Italian Open title Monday after beating Diego Schwartzman 7-5, 6-3 in the final, and restored his confidence heading into the French Open, which starts in six days.

“I did experience mentally some kind of ups and downs in the first four-five days after that happened. I was in shock,” Djokovic said of the default 15 days ago for unintentionally hitting a line judge in the throat with a ball in a fit of anger.

“But I moved on and, really, I never had an issue in my life to move on from something. Regardless how difficult it is I try to take the next day and hope for the best and move on.”

The only real issue for Djokovic this last week was his behavior again.

He received warnings from the chair umpire for smashing a racket in the quarterfinals and for foul language in the semifinals.

Djokovic moved to 31-1 this year.

In the women’s final, top-seeded Simona Halep won her first Rome title when 2019 champion Karolina Pliskova retired midway through their match with a left thigh injury.

Halep was leading 6-0, 2-1 when Pliskova stopped playing after just 31 minutes.

Auto racing: Ross Chastain snagged one of the coveted open NASCAR Cup seats in a promotion at Chip Ganassi Racing to drive the No. 42 next season. The No. 42 Chevrolet at Ganassi has been filled by Matt Kenseth, who came out of retirement to drive after Kyle Larson was fired in April. Chastain, 27, currently races for Kaulig Racing and ranks eighth in the Xfinity standings heading into the opening race of the playoffs.

NHL: Bob Nevin, a fan favorite who won two Stanley Cups with the Maple Leafs before a successful run as captain of the Rangers, died. He was 82. Nevin played 1,128 NHL games with the Leafs, Rangers, North Stars and Kings, totaling 726 points (307 goals, 419 assists) while compiling just 211 penalty minutes. ... Albert Langlois, a three-time Cup winner with the Canadiens, died. He was 85. The Canadiens announced the death Sunday. Langlois also played for the Rangers, Red Wings and Bruins.

Soccer: Manchester City opened its Premier League season with a 3-1 road victory over Wolverhampton. The win came just 37 days since City’s humbling loss to Lyon in the Champions League quarterfinals, and in that time, three players — Aymeric Laporte, Riyad Mahrez and most recently Ilkay Gundogan — contracted the coronavirus. Only Mahrez was available against Wolves, and he never made it off the substitutes’ bench. Sergio Aguero, Bernardo Silva and Eric Garcia were among those out injured.