Uncertainty is not a state of mind one readily associates with Novak Djokovic on Centre Court. Yet the top seed and six-time champion, extended to a fourth set in his opening match for the second year in a row, cut an unusually becalmed figure as he began the defence of his Wimbledon title with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Soonwoo Kwon of South Korea.
Djokovic, who survived a first-set scare against Britain’s Jack Draper at the same stage 12 months ago, was broken early in each of the first two sets, and admitted afterwards that he had felt unsure about how he would be received by the British public on his first appearance since his deportation from Australia in January. Such misgivings are likely to follow him around the world for some time yet, in light of his increasingly entrenched opposition to taking a Covid vaccine, but here he needn’t have worried, enjoying a warm reception from the Centre Court crowd.
“I was very pleasantly surprised, I mean in a positive way,” Djokovic said. “I felt support. Of course, the crowd was engaged in the match, they supported both players. I thought they were very fair to me. I enjoyed my time very much on the court.”
While he may have enjoyed the atmosphere, Djokovic will have derived less pleasure from a performance that was some way short of his best. Yet it was inevitable there would be an element of blowing away the cobwebs, given his tried-and-trusted preference for practice rather than matchplay in the run-up to Wimbledon. This was Djokovic’s first competitive outing since his defeat to Rafael Nadal in last month’s French Open quarter-finals, and while there was a genuine sense of jeopardy when he faced a break point in the fifth game of the third set, he was never in trouble again once he had fended off the danger with a courageous second serve.
“It’s completely different playing points in a practice session and then walking out on the Centre Court and actually playing an official match,” said Djokovic, whose victory made him the first player in history to win 80 matches at all four grand slams.
“Nerves kick in of course, and in the early rounds your opponents don’t have much to lose, so they’re going to go for it more, believing they can get a scalp. And then of course from your side, you’re trying to trying to get into groove, you know, because I did not have any lead-up tournaments or official matches prior to Wimbledon, so it’s always going to be a bit rusty.”
Djokovic was not alone in flirting with danger. Carlos Alcaraz, the fifth seed, was made to toil for five sets and more than four hours before he finally prevailed in the face of a sustained attacking onslaught from Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff. In a season when Alcaraz has carried all before him, winning four titles and rising to seventh in the world rankings, it was a novelty to see him struggle against the unfamiliar challenge of a big-serving net rusher with zero appetite for the kind of extended baseline exchanges on which he thrives.
It was tennis from a bygone era, and it looked likely to earn Struff a notable victory when he opened up an early lead in the fourth-set tiebreak. Instead, Alcaraz turned the contest on its head with a magical backhand pass, flicked crosscourt at full pelt off a low, short approach shot after the German had all but clobbered him into submission with a barrage of huge groundstrokes. Struff would win only won more point in the breaker. In the ninth game of the decider, a double fault and a wayward volley from the 32-year-old left Alcaraz to serve out the second grass-court victory of his professional career.
“For me, playing on grass is so beautiful,” said Alcaraz, not unreasonably after firing down 30 aces. “I would say my level on grass has to improve a bit. I’m happy with my level on grass today, but of course I am not an experienced player on grass. I will improve, but my level is OK right now.”
Former champion Andy Murray, who could face Alcaraz in the last 16, was also made to work hard for victory, coming from behind to battle past James Duckworth of Australia. In his first match since straining an abdominal muscle in Stuttgart a fortnight ago, Murray shrugged off a slow start to prevail 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4, gradually finding his rhythm on serve and range off the return. The contest will be remembered chiefly for a rare underarm serve from Murray.
“He changed his return position, that’s why I did it,” said Murray, who will play John Isner, the 20th seed, in round two. “He was standing very close to return, and then he was struggling a little bit on the first serve return, so he stepped probably two metres further back. As soon as I saw him step further back, I threw the underarm serve in.
“I personally have no issue with players using it, I never have. More and more players have started returning from further behind the baseline to give them an advantage to return, and the underarm serve is a way of saying, ‘Well, if you’re going to step back there, I’m going to possibly throw that in.’
“If they stand four or five meters behind the baseline, why would you not do that to try to bring them forward, if they’re not comfortable returning there? Tactically, it’s a smart play.”
There was an upset in the second quarter of the draw as Hubert Hurkacz, the seventh seed, fell in five sets to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain. Hurkacz, who reached the semi-finals last year and was widely seen as an outsider for the title after winning in Halle a week ago, was edged out 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, 5-7, 2-6, 7-6 (10-8).