Djokovic begins title defence in style

LONDON: Defending champion Novak Djokovic got his campaign for a fifth Wimbledon tennis title off to a winning start on Monday with newly-hired coaching team recruit, and 2001 winner, Goran Ivanisevic helping steer the ship.

Djokovic, chasing a fifth title at the All England Club, saw off 35-year-old Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-3, 7-5, 6-3.

But he had to recover from early breaks in both of the first two sets against a player who beat him at Indian Wells this year, as well as a nasty fall on the Centre Court grass.

Djokovic, chasing a 16th career major, will face Denis Kudla of the United States for a place in the last 32.

If his victory was routine, there was nothing predictable about the Serb’s surprise decision to bring Ivanisevic into his inner sanctum over the weekend.

Djokovic said that he and Ivanisevic have been long-time friends. “I have always looked up to Goran. When he won here in 2001, I feel I was part of that as he had trained in Germany at the same base as me when I was 13-14,” said Djokovic.

“I feel as if I contributed to his victory,” he joked.

Fourth seed Kevin Anderson, runner-up to Djokovic in 2018, eased into the second round beating Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.

Anderson will now play Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic who registered his first win at the tournament in seven years when he defeated Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka 6-4, 6-7 (2/7), 6-2, 5-7, 6-2.

In the women’s event, third seed Karolina Pliskova made it through, beating China’s Zhu Lin 6-2, 7-6 (7/4).

Czech former world number one Pliskova, fresh from winning the Eastbourne title, has never got past the fourth round at Wimbledon.

She will next face Olympic champion Monica Puig.

Slovakia’s Magdalena Rybarikova, a semi-finalist in 2017, caused the first big upset of the tournament when she put out 10th seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 6-2, 6-4 in just 70 minutes. It was Sabalenka’s second successive loss in the first round.

Former French Open champion Simona Halep overcame an injury scare to make the second round with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Aliaksandra Sasnovich.

Halep, seeded seven and a semi-finalist in 2014, needed to have her left ankle strapped after a worrying fall on Court One.

She then slipped at 2-5 down in the second set before recovering to beat her Belarus opponent who knocked out two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova at the same stage in 2018.

Meanwhile, Pierre-Hugues Herbert says the chance to play alongside two-time Wimbledon singles champion Andy Murray on the British star’s home turf convinced him to change his mind over just playing singles at the Grand Slam event.

The 28-year-old Frenchman, whose regular partner Nicolas Mahut was not best pleased by his decision to play with Murray, added the 32-year-old Scotsman is “someone who rewrote history” so he could not pass on the opportunity.

Herbert may have made a financially wise decision too as he went out of the singles in the first round on Monday.

Herbert, who forged a formidable doubles partnership with Mahut winning all four Grand Slams, said the chance to play at a venue where Murray won two of his three singles Grand Slams — and in all likelihood on either Centre Court or Court One — was a persuasive factor.

“That’s actually why I changed my mind, because in my first thoughts about doubles here with Andy, I was more maybe, no, I said I’m going to play only singles,” said Herbert following his loss to Anderson.

“This made me change my mind, because Andy is someone who rewrote history here in Wimbledon.

“It’s something so special to be by his side, and that’s why I changed my mind, because I want to live these kind of experiences.”

There may be one blot on the horizon for Murray, who has returned from what he termed ‘life-changing hip surgery’ earlier this year, as Herbert was troubled by a sore thigh on Sunday and had to curtail training.

However, Herbert said it had not been the reason for his defeat on Monday and he felt better.

“As soon as I did the medical tests and it was all right, I was feeling better, because I was really scared of the tests,” said Herbert.