A shaky start and inclement London weather were not enough to cloud Novak Djokovic’s focus on Monday at Wimbledon.
The defending champion eased to a 6-3, 6-3, 7-6(4) first-round triumph against Pedro Cachin to launch his bid for a fifth consecutive crown at the grass-court major in style. Djokovic dropped serve in the third game of the match but barely looked back from then on as he wrapped a two-hour, 11-minute victory.
“It doesn’t get much better than Wimbledon, really, in terms of history and tradition,” said Djokovic in his on-court interview. “I’ve said it many times throughout my career. Coming to Wimbledon was always the dream, to win it. A childhood dream came true in 2011 and each year I come back I kind of relive those memories and just kind of connect with that young boy that was dreaming in Serbia.
“I try to not take any match, any minute that I spend on the court here for granted. I’m definitely blessed, so it’s a wonderful feeling to be here.”
After claiming the opening set, a one-hour, 29-minute rain delay, during which Djokovic helped ground staff dry Centre Court with a towel, only appeared to galvanise the Serbian further. He broke the No. 68-ranked Cachin in the first game after the resumption and frequently had the Argentine scrambling with some trademark pinpoint returning.
Djokovic helps ground staff dry Centre Court on Monday. Photo Credit: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images.
In contrast to the vastly experienced Djokovic, Cachin only played his maiden tour-level match on grass last week at the Mallorca Championships. The Argentine battled well against the 94-time tour-level titlist, particularly in a third set which went to a tie-break, but Djokovic converted four of his 11 break points in a largely commanding performance.
“I think Pedro deserves a round of applause for his performance today,” said Djokovic. “Especially in the third set, he was hitting very well. Hitting his spots in the box extremely precisely, and it was not easy to break his serve. We went toe to toe to the tie-break, and I had a better start to the tie-break. I guess that helped me to win the tie-break and close out the match.”
It was Djokovic’s 29th consecutive tour-level win on grass. The 36-year-old seeks to equal Roger Federer’s record of eight Wimbledon titles this fortnight in London, where he can also displace Carlos Alcaraz as No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings by lifting the trophy. Djokovic, who has now won 22 matches in a row at majors dating back to Wimbledon last year, became the first man to win 23 Grand Slam titles by triumphing at Roland Garros in May.
His second-round challenge at the All-England Club will be a maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with Jordan Thompson. The Australian earlier pulled off a stunning turnaround to down Brandon Nakashima 2-6, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-3.
A potential third-round opponent for Djokovic is former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka. The Swiss star eliminated Emil Ruusuvuori 7-5, 7-5, 6-4.
Wawrinka broke his Finnish opponent’s serve five times and took advantage of 40 unforced errors from Ruusuvuori.
The 38-year-old will play 29th seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry or Bernabe Zapata Miralles in the second round. Zapata Miralles leads that match 7-6(5), 7-5, 3-6 (suspended due to darkness).