Djokovic shakes off the nerves to cruise through
THE Wimbledon debutant named Tennys from Tennessee headed home but the three-time champion who continues to play down his chances of a fourth title is going nowhere. Novak Djokovic, seeded 12th, won in straight sets against American Tennys Sandgren. At 7pm precisely, midway through the third set, one spectator shouted: ‘Come on England,’
receiving the loudest roar of the match from the Court No 1 crowd. Both players saw the funny side, though everything else about this 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 win was serious from former world No 1 Djokovic.
The Serb took an hour and 33 minutes to see off Sandgren and he faces Horacio Zeballos of Argentina in the second round. ‘I was a bit tense at the beginning,’ said Djokovic, now ranked 21 in the world. ‘It’s the first match of Wimbledon so you want to play well. ‘It’s difficult to keep the emotions inside. I’m looking forward to seeing how I progress.’ It has been a difficult year for Djokovic, who has been hindered by injury. He has shown form on grass, however, reaching the final of Queen’s. Sandgren reached the Australian Open quarter-finals earlier this year but Djokovic was simply too good for him. Meanwhile, No 15 seed Nick Kyrgios beat Denis Istomin 7-6, 7-6, 6-7, 6-3.