Wimbledon Day 1 - Djokovic Off The Mark

You can only imagine Philipp Kohlschreiber’s reaction when he received the news that he had been handed a first round match against the defending Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic.  This was the first time the 31 year old German hadn’t been seeded at a major for over two years, just his luck that when it happened he was drawn against the world number one.

World number 1 Novak Djokovic celebrates taking the 1st set

Kohlschreiber is currently ranked 33^rd in the world, one place higher and he would have been seeded and avoided this nightmare opener. From Djokovic’s point of view this was the toughest possible first round match, nevertheless after just over two hours the Serb had returned to the locker room without a scar in sight after prevailing 6-4 6-4 6-4 .

It wasn’t totally one sided and there were still signs of rust in Djokovic’s game, that was to be expected considering he was playing his first competitive match since his heart-breaking loss to Stanislas Wawrinka in the French Open final over three weeks ago.  

Even after his break, Djokovic must still have flashbacks about that draining defeat in Paris. There may have even been some hallucinations here, as Kohlschreiber struck some admirable one handed backhands in the opening exchanges similar to the ones Wawarika viciously ripped in the French capital.

After dropping his serve in the second game, the writing appeared to be on the wall from the word go for Kohlschreiber, however he broke back immediately to tip the set back in the balance. Some tantalising rallies followed as the German tussled and probed with his effective slice backhand, as the Serb continued to find his feet.

But this is Novak Djokovic, the man who has claimed eight Grand Slam titles and is currently lifting the game to new heights.  As great champions often do the Serb pounced at the business end of the set, though on this occasion Kohlschreiber gave him a helping hand, serving two double faults when trailing 5-4 in the first set which Djokovic abruptly stole.

From there it was a case of dusting off the cobwebs as Djokovic began to turn the screw. Just like in the first set he broke Kohlschreiber’s serve when leading 5-4, though this had more to do with Djokovic’s brilliance rather than the German’s generosity as a sensational lob and trademark Djokovic backhand gave him a two set lead.

The pair traded breaks at the start of the third set but that didn’t stop it going the same way as the first two, as Djokovic took his chances to avert the unpredictably of a tiebreak.

Kohlschreiber can only attempt to notch up his ranking a place before the US Open in a few months’ time, failing that he’ll have to hope he avoids Djokovic at the first hurdle.  Meanwhile the top seed will now face Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen who ended Lleyton Hewitt’s last ever Wimbledon before his retirement in five sets.

From a British point of view the big story of the day was the victory for Grand Slam debutant Liam Broady who fought back from two sets down to beat Australian Marinko Matosevic on court 18. "The crowd was fantastic - they made the experience" said the 21 year old after the match.

However there was less joy for Liam’s sister Naomi who was competing in the women’s singles but lost to Colombian Mariana Duque-Marino. Johanna Konta was always going face an uphill battle against Maria Sharapova while Heather Watson’s match with Caroline Garcia was topped at one set all. There were also wins for Wawrinka, Grigor Dimitrov and Serena Williams on day one.