Pleased to 'raise level'

LONDON • It was a routine day out for top seed Novak Djokovic but not for those around him.

The Serb, seeking to retain his Wimbledon title and earn his 21st Grand Slam singles title, brushed aside Australia's Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 yesterday to move into the third round and set up a clash with compatriot Miomir Kecmanovic.

Djokovic, with just one title in Rome this year, has dropped to world No. 3 over the past few weeks, but top-ranked Daniil Medvedev and world No. 2 Alexander Zverev are both missing in London over Russia's invasion of Ukraine and injury respectively.

He will not return to the summit even if he wins the grass-court tournament, as the ATP and WTA Tour have removed the ranking points in protest over Wimbledon's unilateral decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players.

But that has not diminished Djokovic's desire to not only claw to within one Slam of rival Rafael Nadal's haul of 22 titles, but also equal American great Pete Sampras as a seven-time champion at the All England Club.

He said: "I'm very happy with my performance today. I started very well, solid from the back of the court. Made him (Kokkinakis) work for every point and worked him around the court.

"I am pleased with the way I've raised the level of tennis in the past two days. Obviously, just thinking about the next challenge and hope things will get better...

"You don't think about numbers when you start playing tennis - 99 per cent of children when they grab a racquet, have dreams and passion for the sport.

"When you get down on yourself, you are going back to that inner child and remembering why you start to play the sport, and anything you achieve is a bonus."

The 34-year-old's path to his fourth Wimbledon trophy in a row was eased yesterday, after Norwegian third seed and French Open finalist Casper Ruud was stunned 3-6, 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 in the second round by unseeded Frenchman Ugo Humbert.

The upset came despite Humbert absent-mindedly forgetting to bring his racquets and had to request someone to get them.

However, second seed Nadal, playing on grass for the first time since his 2019 Wimbledon semi-final loss to Roger Federer, is still in the mix after the Spaniard triumphed 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 on Monday over Argentinian debutant Francisco Cerundolo.

Greek fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas also snapped his first-round hoodoo here - he had suffered three exits in the past four editions - when he ended Swiss qualifier Alexander Ritschard's first tour-level match with a 7-6 (7-1), 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 win the same evening.

There was a big shock in the women's draw, as Estonian second seed Anett Kontaveit tumbled out in the second round, thumped 6-4, 6-0 by big-serving German Jule Niemeier, who is making a mark on her first appearance at the event.

Last season's WTA Finals finalist has talked about suffering fatigue this year following a Covid-19 infection and has not played a match since the French Open last month.

Kontaveit looked out of sorts against her 97th-ranked opponent, who said: "It's amazing. It's one of the greatest wins of my career so far, I love to play on grass... it suits my game."

British golden girl Emma Raducanu was also sent packing yesterday after a 6-3, 6-3 second-round loss to France's Caroline Garcia.

Garcia dominated the opening set as her aggressive return game and heavy serving unsettled the 10th-seeded Briton. The US Open champion gave her fans hope of a comeback when she broke Garcia to level the second set at 3-3, but she dropped serve immediately to hand the advantage back. Garcia coolly held for 5-3 and broke Raducanu again to claim an impressive victory.

REUTERS

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