He plays fearlessly, as if he hadn’t had surgery on his right knee less than a month ago. He dominates on the court, as if he had no doubts about his participation until before landing in London. Novak Djokovic is overwhelming as always on the Centre Court at Wimbledon, tearing Czech Vit Kopriva to pieces with the roof closed, dispatched 6-1 6-2 6-2 in one hour and 58 minutes. Nole, who received applause from the crowd and caressed the court before putting away his racket, is now waiting for the winner of the match between British wild card Fearnley and Spanish qualifier Moro Canas to find out who he will face in the second round. “I’m very happy with how I felt on the court,” he said. “I came to Wimbledon in different circumstances than usual and I didn’t know how the match would go: I’m happy with how I felt, with how I played.”
answers
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Nole has been trying for more than a week to understand if he could play Wimbledon, if the conditions of that right knee injured at Roland Garros, protected in this first match by a gray brace, were good enough not only to allow him to be there, but to be the usual Djokovic, to play to win. The answers that came in training, including the one on Thursday on Center Court against Jannik Sinner, had all been positive, but Nole was the first to wait for this match with Kopriva: the answers he got were excellent. On the court he never had a moment of difficulty, a grimace of pain, he never asked too much from that joint that had kept him in doubt until the end: he seemed like the usual Djokovic, authoritative and determined, without limitations. Kopriva, world number 123 who at 27 entered the main draw of Wimbledon for the first time in his career, was obviously not the most fearsome of opponents and never put the 37-year-old Serb in difficulty: he made him run, but he never even stole a break. More difficult tests will be needed to say if Djokovic is really in condition to win Wimbledon as he dreams of doing, but in the meantime the first test has been passed. “I tried to focus on the match and not on the knee,” he said. “I did everything I could with my team in the last few weeks to be on the court. I wouldn’t have risked it for any other tournament, but I love Wimbledon and I couldn’t not be there.”
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the match
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Djokovic clears away doubts about his condition by starting with two aces and two service winners in the first game, then in the fourth he breaks his opponent’s serve on the sixth break point, after a very long partial. Nole repeats the break also in the following service game of Kopriva and completes the 6-1 on serve, without conceding even a 15 in the last 3 games. Nole exults when he breaks Kopriva’s serve in the 3rd game of the second set, then repeats the break in the 7th game and closes easily on 6-2. Djokovic takes the lead in the third set when in the fifth game he breaks his opponent’s serve, adds a break for 5-2 and then closes the accounts on his own service game, with an ace. As if the last few weeks had not been full of doubts.
