Tennis
Novak Djokovic overcomes a setback to win Wimbledon’s first match.
England’s Wimbledon At Wimbledon on Monday, Novak Djokovic’s performance was not especially, well, Djokovic-esque.
Even he agreed with this.
As he started his quest for a fourth straight victory and seventh overall in the grass-court Grand Slam competition, he was broken early and trailed 3-1. He bounced back to win that set before losing the next. He stumbled and landed on the grass. More unforced errors were made by him than by his opponent. He grabbed tissues from a black box on the sidelines and blew his nose, suggesting that he could be a little under the weather. Given that he hadn’t participated in a game that mattered in nearly a month, he might have just been feeling weird.
But this is the top-seeded Djokovic, and there’s a reason why he defeated South Korean Soonwoo Kwon at Centre Court under the retractable roof to extend his winning streak at the All England Club to 22 matches and his career total there to 80 matches, making him the first player in tennis history to have at least that many victories at each major.
And there’s a reason why Kwon’s coach Daniel Yoo’s wife’s friends held up colourful placards in a player guest box that said in Korean, “Fight!” and “Don’t get wounded,” according to Yoo.
Kwon thus entered the court nervously. Kwon, who is rated 81st, stated through Yoo’s translation that after just two games, “I felt like, ‘Oh, this is achievable…. I can hang with him a little bit.”
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Day 1 saw a fairly regular return to pre-pandemic normal, with capacity crowds, no masks, the Wimbledon Queue in full force, and of course, on-and-off-and-on-again precipitation. The No. 7 seed Hubert Hurkacz, a semifinalist at the All England Club a year ago, lost.
Hurkacz, who had just won on grass over the weekend, was defeated by Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in a match using Wimbledon’s new final-set format, which requires a first-to-10, win-by-two tiebreaker in women’s third sets and men’s fifth sets that are tied at six sets each.
Due to the American’s 70-68 triumph over Nicolas Mahut in the fifth set in 2010 and his 26-24 defeat to Kevin Anderson in the fifth set in 2018, both at Wimbledon and both before the competition implemented deciding-set tiebreakers, that might as well be known as the John Isner Rule.
On Monday, Isner defeated Enzo Couacaud by scores of 6-7 (6), 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-3, and 7-5. He was back on Court 18, the location of the Mahut marathon. Since Isner will be playing Andy Murray, who has won two of these three major championships at Wimbledon, the match is likely to take place on a larger court.
At Centre Court, Murray defeated James Duckworth 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.
Djokovic, a 35-year-old Serbian who lost to rival Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals of the French Open, hadn’t played since, and it seemed to show. For extended periods, Kwon’s piercing, flat groundstrokes and delicate drop shots were effective.
“I did not start or play at my best,” admitted Djokovic, who, with Roger Federer, holds the second-most Grand Slam titles in men’s tennis history with 20 titles, only behind Rafael Nadal’s 22. “But I believe that I did when I needed to locate the appropriate shots. I believe that [my] serve saved me in a few crucial situations. I know I’m capable of more.
Also keep in mind that this could be Djokovic’s final big competition of the year and for another 11 months, up until the 2023 French Open.
As things stand, he won’t be permitted entry into the US as a foreigner who hasn’t received his COVID-19 shots and will therefore be forced to skip the US Open, which starts in August. Because he is unvaccinated, he may also wind up skipping the Australian Open for a second time in a row, a decision he made on Saturday.
Djokovic stated after Monday’s match that he is not currently planning on travelling to New York but added: “I’m hopeful some things can change and that I’ll be able to go and play. If I could, I would.
Casper Ruud, a finalist at the French Open, won his first match on Court 12. Albert Ramos-Vinolas was defeated by the third-seeded Norwegian 7-6 (1), 7-6 (9), 6-2.
In the men’s draw, the No. 5 player from Spain, Carlos Alcaraz, the No. 9 player from Britain, John Isner, the No. 20 player from the United States, the No. 22 player from Georgia, Nikoloz Basilashvili, the No. 23 player from the United States, and the No. 30 player from the United States all advanced.
Alcaraz stated that he does not perceive himself as the favourite at Wimbledon, so he does not feel any pressure.
Alcaraz stated, “I don’t feel the pressure because I don’t consider myself one of the favourites to win this tournament. “Obviously, I have a chance to win the event if I play well. On grass, though, a lot of players have more experience and perform better than I do.
“I’m not aware of any pressure. Just continue to gain experience on the grass and take pleasure in each game. #wimbledon
Dominic Thiem recognized that he supported a rib injury at the Australian Open. He would attempt to recuperate in time for the Davis Cup qualifiers that start the next month.
Previous U.S. Open champ Thiem has dove to number 98 on the planet because of his ongoing physical issue issues.
The 29-year-old Austrian was given a special case to the Australian Open, where he lost to fifth seed Andrey Rublev in straight sets subsequent to pulling a rib muscle while serving.
“Tragically, the year didn’t get off to the beginning I had expected. I needed to do the best that I can with, particularly in Melbourne, yet I tore a little muscle fiber in my rib “Posted on Instagram by Thiem.
“Because of the discoveries, contending in the Davis Cup ought to be practical. I’ll do all that I can this approaching week to rehearse hard and become in shape.”
Rafael Nadal has a lot of fans. The top-seeded player, who will start his Australian Open campaign on Monday against left-handed opponent Jack Draper, walked out for his first practice session in front of a crowd that was packed outside the arena.
Nadal has played seven matches since the end of the last season. He has a record of 0-7, and he is 0-2 so far this year. Nadal is the current champion of the men’s singles event in Australia.
This man can draw a crowd 👀@rafaelnadal • #AusOpen • #AO2023 pic.twitter.com/YBdztsLuNJ
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 15, 2023
Even though Nadal is the defending champion at Melbourne Park thanks to his comeback from two sets down in last year’s final, which he called “one of the most emotional victories of my tennis career,” he is currently going through one of the worst stretches of his career. So far in 2023, he is 0-2 and has only won one of the seven games he has played since the end of the previous season.
When asked about how weak he felt at a news conference before the tournament on Saturday, Nadal didn’t try to hide anything.
“Yeah. Without knowing, “The 36-year-old man from Spain had a lot of health problems in 2022, including pain in his left foot that wouldn’t go away, broken rib cartilage, and a torn abdominal muscle. Many bad things were said to happen to him in the year 2022. “I’ve had more setbacks than usual lately…. It’s something I have to deal with if I want to keep going and win battles.
Having lost to a motivated John Isner in the second round on Wednesday, two-time champion Andy Murray experienced his earliest exit from Wimbledon.
Murray had won all eight of their prior encounters, but in their first meeting on grass, the 20th-seeded American out-served Murray magnificently to secure an outstanding triumph.
Isner, 37, won 43 of 61 points at the net, hit 82 winners, including 36 aces, and took both of his two break points.
Isner stated, “Look, it’s no secret that I am not a better tennis player than Andy Murray. “I believe that I performed slightly better than he did today.
“At the age I am today, I need to savour these occasions. One of my career’s biggest victories is this one. It is a major accomplishment for me to have played as well as I did against one of our greatest players in history. He is a huge source of motivation for each and every person in the locker room.”
Murray, 35, dropped his serve in the third game after missing two weeks of competitive play before to Wimbledon due to an abdominal issue.
In the ensuing game, he created two break opportunities, but Isner, 37, saved both and held onto the lead to win the opening set.
Murray rallied to win the third set in a tiebreak, 7-3, after Isner had won the second set tiebreak 7-4.
Isner broke for a 3-2 victory despite Murray having the momentum. When play resumed after the roof was closed due to darkness at 4-2, Murray held and subsequently had a 0-30 advantage on Isner’s serve, but he was unable to take advantage.
Murray held for a score of 5-4, but Isner easily served out to set up a third-round matchup with 10th seed Jannik Sinner.
Murray expressed disappointment that the abdominal injury he sustained in Stuttgart earlier this month had limited his ability to prepare for the competition.
I was in a good place with my game, so it’s annoying, he added. “That was ineffective. The good news is that I was in good physical condition throughout the contests. On the Wednesday and Thursday before the event, it was rather uncertain how I would perform. On the court, however, I felt strong physically. I just wasn’t able to pull through today.”
Murray stated that he intends to attend Wimbledon again.
It depends on my physical condition, he answered. “I’m in good physical shape, so we’ll attempt to keep playing. Making long-term forecasts about how I’ll be in a year, much alone a few weeks from now, is quite difficult, though, given the issues I’ve had with my body in recent years.
“Yes, I will continue to play if I’m in good physical shape. But maintaining my body in top shape to perform at the highest level is difficult.”
Now Murray is working to raise his ranking from 52, where it now stands, to a position where he will be a Grand Slam seed.
I thought I could have a deep run going into Wimbledon,” he remarked. “It obviously becomes a little bit more difficult if you are playing against great players right at the start of the competition. I guess you could say that’s what I want to do before the US Open.”
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