LONDON:In a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 triumph on Monday, top seed Novak Djokovic advanced to the second round at Wimbledon despite a tenacious contest from 81st-ranked Korean Kwon Soon-woo.
The defending champion, who is vying for his fourth straight Wimbledon victory and seventh overall, occasionally appeared out of sorts against Kwon. Kwon brought a vibrant variety of tennis to Centre Court, ranging from thunderous forehands to deft drop drops.
Djokovic acknowledged that the absence of a grasscourt warm-up tournament had hurt his performance against a challenging opponent who was 11 years his junior.
You’re always going to feel a little less at ease than you would like when playing against someone as great as Kwon, who keeps near to the line and hits incredibly clean, he said. “I didn’t have any lead-up or preparation events before to this,” he said.
It wasn’t simple. I had to mix up the game a bit. The serve was helpful, but at this level, the winner is decided by one or two shots.
In the fourth game of the second set, the 24-year-old Korean broke Djokovic’s service, and he later used a drop shot and a huge serve to win the match.
But the Serb, who was going for a 21st Grand Slam victory, was able to regain enough of his distinctive consistency to defeat the challenge.
