It was not quite the triple bagel that Novak Djokovic was aiming for during the opening 41 minutes of his first-round match but the Serbian is unlikely to be too disappointed after he beat Britain’s James Ward 6-0 7-6(3) 6-4 at Wimbledon on Monday.
The holder of all four grand slam titles appeared to be hurtling towards his 29th successive win at a major when he opened his Wimbledon defence by jumping out to a 6-0 3-0 lead.
But two rallying war cries from the Centre Court crowd, “Wake up Wardy, wake up” followed by “He’s only human James!” snapped the 177th-ranked wildcard out of his trance.
A ‘human’ Djokovic was forced to block out the noisy commotion moments later when Ward finally held serve to save his blushes.
Had the world number one not kept track of the score, he might have thought Ward had just won the match as the Briton celebrated by holding both arms aloft as he lapped up the applause from all around the court.
Ward, who had not won a tour level match of any kind since making the third round here 12 months ago, then went on a roll to level the set at 3-3.
He also had three chances to break his more illustrious opponent in the 11th game of the second set but it was not long before Djokovic snapped back into his ‘Super-human’ persona and ushered the son of a London black cab driver out of Wimbledon.
“I was really flawless, I felt great,” said the 29-year-old, who is bidding to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold the first three legs of the calendar grand slam.
Unsurprisingly, Ward’s memory of the day was somewhat different.
“It was an ugly start,” Ward said after slumping to his eighth successive tour-level defeat.
“The more the games go on, you start panicking, especially against a guy who is making so many balls. Everything you hit is coming back,” he added.
“(But) I’m proud of myself the way I turned it around because it could have been ugly.”
Djokovic will next meet Frenchman Adrian Mannarino.
Under the watchful gaze of new coach and tennis royalty John McEnroe, sixth seed Milos Raonic got off to a solid start with a 7-6(4) 6-2 6-4 win over Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta at Wimbledon on Monday
Grigor Dimitrov used to tire of being labelled ‘Baby Fed’ so his slide out of the limelight at least spared him the awkward comparison with the Swiss great as he prepared for Wimbledon.
Japan’s Kei Nishikori produced a fine display of hard hitting from the baseline to subdue Australia’s Sam Groth 6-4 6-3 7-5 in an entertaining clash of styles in the Wimbledon first round.
World number 772 Willis wins in Wimbledon dreamland
World number 772 Marcus Willis proved the unlikeliest of home Wimbledon heroes on Monday, sealing a fairytale 6-3 6-3 6-4 victory over Ricardas Berankis, ranked more than 700 places up above him.
Cheered on by a packed and rowdy crowd desperate for a British win on day one at the tournament, the Briton showed all the guts and guile he needed to get through two rounds of qualifying, as well as the coaching he does to pay the bills.
Just winning the first-round match has netted 25-year-old Willis 30,000 pounds, so it was no surprise he fist-pumped and saluted every winner against the world number 54 from Lithuania like he was lifting the trophy on the final Sunday.
He saved five break points in the eighth game of the final set before serving it out and he was greeted by near delirium on Court 17 before being swallowed up by the hugs of friends and family as he leant over the barriers.
Reuters
