Wimbledon Day 1: Swiatek, Djokovic ease through

RG champs untroubled in openers

Besides a rain delay that halted play for over an hour due to slippery conditions on Centre Court, reigning Roland-Garros champion Novak Djokovic enjoyed a mostly smooth 6-3, 6-3, 7-6(4) victory over Argentina’s Wimbledon main draw debutant Pedro Cachin to extend his tour-level win streak on grass to 29 matches in a row.

The world No.2, who has lost on the surface since falling to Marin Cilic in the final at Queen’s in 2018, fired 45 winners, including 13 aces, en route to a second-round meeting with Australian Jordan Thompson.

Djokovic is gunning for an all-time record-equalling 24th Grand Slam this fortnight and a successful title defence would earn him an eight Wimbledon crown.

“It's a feeling like no other tournament in the world, walking out on the Centre Court of Wimbledon as a defending champion, on the fresh grass. It's amazing, amazing to be back to a dream tournament, and to be able to get the first match out of the way,” said the 36-year-old Djokovic.

“It was a solid performance. I know I can always play better, but at the same time after a long clay court season, coming into Wimbledon without any preparation tournament, lead-up event, any official match on grass, it was kind of expected I still would probably not be in my 100 percent of the level of my tennis.

“I've been in these situations before, so hopefully as the tournament progresses I'll raise my level as well.”

Over on No.1 Court, top seed Iga Swiatek breezed through her opener 6-1, 6-3 over China’s Zhu Lin in 81 minutes. The Roland-Garros champion will next take on Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo in round two.

Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam where Swiatek has yet to reach the quarter-finals. Just like she had to do in Paris, the 22-year-old will have to fend off Aryna Sabalenka if she wants to hold onto her No.1 ranking after this tournament.

The No.1 scenarios are as follows: Sabalenka will need to reach the final to have a chance of overtaking Swiatek at the top. If Swiatek advances to the quarters, then Sabalenka would need to win the Wimbledon title to dethrone her.

Last year at the Championships, Swiatek saw her 37-match winning streak come to an end at the hands of Alize Cornet in the third round and she explains how the circumstances are different for her at SW19 this time.

“The thing is that last year I just felt like I still have this streak going. After Roland-Garros, kind of everybody was talking about that. It was a lot kind of on my shoulders when I got into the tournament,” she told reporters on Monday.

“It wasn't easy, especially given I just played one tournament on grass last year. I think that's why was a little bit more tricky because I felt rusty kind of mentally in terms of the focus tennis-wise because I didn't play any matches on grass.

“I think this year is much more comfortable for me. For sure winning a Grand Slam this year (in Paris), it feels like I kind of reached my goal. I was really kind of happy and I could celebrate after. But last year, I just felt more expectations. I think that's the difference.”

Upset of the day

World No.128 and former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin recorded the 10th top-10 victory of her career by knocking out fellow American and No.7 seed Coco Gauff 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.

Kenin, who had to qualify to make it into the main draw here, notched her first Grand Slam victory since Wimbledon 2021.

Gauff had never lost in the Wimbledon first round in three previous appearances and is now 13-3 win-loss in Grand Slam openers.

One for the family

Playing for the first time since losing in the Roland-Garros final last month, No.4 seed Casper Ruud picked up just his second ever main draw victory at Wimbledon, on his fourth appearance, with a 6-1, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 win over Laurent Lokoli.

Ruud does not have the best record on grass – he was 3-5 on the surface at tour-level coming into his first round on Monday – and said he was nervous stepping onto No.1 Court for his opener against the French qualifier.

“I think it's just this place is a bit special. My father (and coach Christian Ruud) and I, we don't have the greatest record at Wimbledon,” said the Norwegian with a smile.  

“Any time we can pick up a win, it's big for the family. Walking from Centre to Court 1 is like a tunnel, and you have all these pictures of memorable matches and players and legends of the game, so walking past those pictures was kind of like, ‘Oh, I'm going out there to play on one of these big courts myself’. Just I think first time you're playing on a big court in a tournament that you haven't played on before, it's a bit special. Just wouldn't say I was dying of nerves, but it was just some butterflies in the stomach.”

Next up for Ruud is British wildcard Liam Broady.

Strycova makes winning return

Back at Wimbledon for the first time since her run to the singles semi-finals in 2019, and competing in her first Grand Slam since the 2021 Australian Open, Barbora Strycova enjoyed a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Maryna Zanevska to book a second-round meeting with Polish No.23 seed Magda Linette.

Strycova is one of five mothers featuring in the Wimbledon singles main draw. The 37-year-old Czech gave birth to her son Vincent in September 2021 and came out of retirement to play a limited 2023 schedule before signing off from the tour at next month’s US Open.

Stat of the day

She couldn’t get the ‘W’ against Elina Svitolina on Monday, falling 6-4, 6-3 to the Ukrainian wildcard but the 43-year-old Venus Williams continues to amaze as she made her 24th Wimbledon singles appearance in 26 years. Williams made her Wimbledon debut in 1997; at the time 53 of the players in this year’s women’s singles draw were not yet born and her opponent Svitolina was only two years old.

Williams suffered a bad fall during her match against Svitolina, and despite being able to complete the match, the seven-time major champion later revealed it was extremely painful and is in shock over the incident.

Comeback of the day

Australian Jordan Thompson could only muster four games in his opening two sets against American Brandon Nakashima but turned things around to complete a 2-6, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-3 comeback in three hours and 30 minutes.

The world No.70’s reward is a second round clash with Djokovic.