It never does to look too far ahead in a sporting tournament, yet a minor frisson of expectation is beginning to ripple through the men’s draw after the two-time champion Rafael Nadal and a potential future winner Alexander Zverev left favourable impressions on the still pristine lawns only two days into the championship.
Not so impressed or impressive were the 10th seed, David Goffin, rolled over in straight sets by Matthew Ebden – part of a rare Australian cavalry charge – and the French Open finalist, Dominic Thiem, who had to retire injured when trailing in the third set against the old warhorse, Marcos Baghdatis. That is three top-10 players out in the first round, following Grigor Dimitrov’s exit on day one.
Goffin’s loss was the biggest surprise – and a blow for the Belgian after the euphoria of his country’s dramatic win over Japan in the World Cup the night before. He saw Kei Nishikori warming up on Tuesday. “I think he was disappointed,” Goffin said – but happy enough on court later, when he survived a minor scare to beat the American qualifier Christian Harrison in four sets on an outside court.
On Centre Court Nadal, fresh from more conquests on clay, got his grass campaign going with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 win over the world No 127, Dudi Sela.
The Israeli came to life in the third, breaking serve before handing three back, and it was all done in an hour and 50 minutes. Next up for the Spaniard is the Russian Mikhail Kukushkin, who beat Canada’s Vasek Pospisil in four sets. Routine as Nadal’s quick victory might appear, against an opponent who has done little since reaching the third round here last year, he has the curious distinction of having won probably the most exciting final in the history of Wimbledon – over Roger Federer 10 years ago – as well as losing four times to players ranked 100 or worse since 2011.
Those catastrophes coincided with the degradation of the Spaniard’s knees but his joints seem to be holding up as he moves through his early 30s on a surface that requires him to alter his movement significantly.
He explained later why he pulled out of Queen’s for the third time in a row, after lending his name to the promotion. “I had a long clay-court season, a lot of matches. I had lot of problems in terms of physical injuries during my career. Of course I love to play at Queen’s [he last appeared there in 2015]. That was my schedule. But after playing the final of Roland Garros and playing so many matches on clay, for my knees, the drastic changes are not good.”
Zverev, at 21 and back to full fitness, has no such problems. He is moving like a champion in the making and had way too much game for the Australian James Duckworth, who survived for only an hour and a half as the No 4 seed steamrollered him 7-5, 6-2, 6-0.
Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic continued his return to form as he equalled John McEnroe’s number of matches won at Wimbledon by beating the American Tennys Sandgren in straight sets. Djokovic went through the gears, winning 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 on Court No 1 for his 59th match victory at the All England Club. That puts him level with McEnroe in fifth place on the all-time list, behind only Roger Federer, Jimmy Connors, Boris Becker and Pete Sampras. After so much time out of the game recently, Djokovic may well still have plenty in the tank at the business end of the tournament.
