Djokovic trips German rival
LONDON—Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams made strong cases for the less is more approach to Wimbledon build-ups with resounding victories at a sunny All England Club on Monday.
Meanwhile, Former champions Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray get their 2015 Wimbledon campaigns underway Tuesday, desperate to avoid marathon duels in temperatures expected to smash the 30-degree barrier.
Second seed Federer, the seven-time champion, faces Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia, who he beat at the French Open this year, 2013 winner Murray takes on Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan while Nadal, the 2008 and 2010 champion, plays Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci.
Federer, bidding for his 18th major, says he is in the perfect condition to win Wimbledon for a record eighth time as the Swiss great bids to avenge last year’s “heart-breaking” final defeat.
Federer’s last appearance at the All England Club 12 months ago ended in the despair of a five-set loss against Novak Djokovic that left him shedding tears.
“If I look at last year, I see more the positives than actually the heart-breaking loss in the final,” said Federer, fresh from his eighth Halle grasscourt title last week.
Defending men’s champion Djokovic, who has been training in the south of France rather than fine-tuning the grasscourt arts since his French Open title quest turned to dust, swept past Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber, 6-4, 64, 6-4.
American 20-time Grand Slam champion Williams, who like the Serb rarely schedules in any grasscourt tournaments before Wimbledon, also proved impressive after a slow start, beating Russian debutant Margarita Gasparyan, 6-4, 6-1, on Court One.
The reigning US Open, Australian Open and French Open champion is now half way toward a rare “calendar” grand slam last achieved by Steffi Graf in 1988 and only six wins away from holding all four majors at the same time.