Top seed Djokovic into Wimbledon 2nd round with 80th career win at All England Club | CBC Sports
These days, Novak Djokovic makes history just about every time he wins another match. On Monday, the top-ranked Serb did just that at Wimbledon.
Djokovic, a six-time champion at the All England Club, beat Kwon Soon-woo 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Centre Court, his 80th victory at the grass-court major. With it, he became the first man or woman to win that many matches at each of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments.
Djokovic was playing for the first time since losing to Rafael Nadal last month in the French Open quarter-finals.
“It’s always very unique match to play as the defending champion, first on the grass,” said Djokovic, who won his 22nd straight match at the tournament. “Other than this year that Wimbledon made a change so you could practice before the tournament starts, it was always coming out on the untouched grass. It’s really a unique and special feeling in our sport.”
It didn’t all go his way on Monday, however.
With the roof closed because of sporadic rain, Kwon was able to pick his spots with his booming forehand. It all came together in the second set, and even continued into the third, but Djokovic stepped it up and played like he usually plays in southwest London — unbeatable.
Djokovic has won the last three Wimbledon titles and is going for his seventh overall. That would put him in a tie for the second most with Pete Sampras and William Renshaw. Only Roger Federer, with eight, has more.
Another major title would also give him 21 for his career. Nadal has 22, and Federer has 20.
Most of Djokovic’s Grand Slam singles championships have come at the Australian Open, where he is a nine-time champion. But he was unable to defend his title in Melbourne this year after being deported because of Australia’s COVID-19 vaccination protocols.
Despite that issue, the crowd on Centre Court was happy to see him back at Wimbledon.
“I felt support,” said Djokovic, who may be banned from playing at the U.S. Open and again at the Australian Open because he is unvaccinated.
“I guess that motivates me more to try to make the most out of this tournament,” he said.
3rd-seeded Jabeur moves on
Most of Djokovic’s Grand Slam singles championships have come at the Australian Open, where he is a nine-time champion. But he was unable to defend his title in Melbourne this year after being deported because of Australia’s vaccination protocols.
The first player to reach the second round was Alison Riske. The 28th-seeded American defeated Ylena In-Albon of Switzerland 6-2, 6-4.
Other seeded women who advanced were No. 3 Ons Jabeur of Tunisia and No. 29 Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine. Kalinina will face another Ukrainian, Lesia Tsurenko, in the second round.
French Open finalist Casper Ruud won his opening match on Court 12. The third-seeded Norwegian defeated Albert Ramos-Vinolas 7-6 (1), 7-6 (9), 6-2.
Polish qualifier takes down Vancouver’s Marino
Katarzyna Kawa converted two pivotal break points late in the match to secure a 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 win over Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino in first-round women’s action Monday at Wimbledon.
Marino was serving for the match in Game 10 of the third set, but didn’t get a match point opportunity as the Polish qualifier picked up her fourth break to tie the set 5-5.
After winning the next game to take a 6-5 lead, Kawa won the match by converting her fifth of 10 breakpoint chances when Marino hit an unforced error while facing match point.
WATCH | Canada’s Rebecca Marino makes 1st-round exit:
Qualifier Katarzyna Kawa of Poland was victorious over Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 in the first round at Wimbledon.
Marino had six aces to Kawa’s three, and Kawa, ranked No. 132 in the world, committed seven double faults, four more than Marino. But Marino had 58 unforced errors in the match to 50 for Kawa.
The Canadian, ranked 104 in the world, had 13 breakpoint chances against Kawa, converting four.
Marino was competing in the Wimbledon main women’s draw for the first time since 2011.
The other three Canadians in the main draws are set to play their opening matches Tuesday.
Sixth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal and 13th seed Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., are in the men’s main draw, and Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., the 2019 U.S. Open champion and runner-up at last week’s grass-court event in Bad Homburg, Germany, is in the women’s draw.
Player comes to aid of fainting ballboy
Quick reactions are a hallmark of being a professional tennis player, and Jodie Burrage showed the Wimbledon crowd she could respond to adversity quickly.
The British player noticed a ballboy who was feeling faint on the sidelines during her match on Monday, then rushed over to make sure he was OK. She first gave him a sports drink, then some nutritional gel before a spectator handed over a bag of candy.
“Just tried to get him some sugar, gave him a Gatorade and a gel. The gel is not the nicest thing, so they managed to find some Percy Pigs somewhere along the line in the crowd, which he got down and then started to feel better,” Burrage said. “Hopefully he’s feeling better now.
“I just reacted how I think anyone would. He was not in a good spot.”
The match was stopped for about 10 minutes until the boy was helped off court.
Unfortunately for the 23-year-old Burrage, her heroics didn’t help her in the match. She lost to Lesia Tsurenko 6-2, 6-3 on the opening day of the tournament.
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