Less than four weeks after undergoing surgery on his right knee, Novak Djokovic got his Wimbledon ambitions off to the most comfortable of starts on Centre Court on Tuesday.
Quite how his knee will fair over the fortnight of his favourite Grand Slam remains to be seen and there will be sterner tests on it than that of Vit Kopriva.
The Czech player toiled as he tried to push the 24-time Grand Slam champion, who, despite a large knee support, did not appear to be in discomfort and even unleashed his trademark splits from the back of the court.
The pair are polar opposites in terms of their careers in the majors. This was Kopriva’s second Grand Slam singles match, in contrast to Djokovic’s 420th.
Those on Centre had witnessed a shock in the preceding match when defending champion Marketa Vondrousova was comfortably beaten. Another surprise looked unlikely from the very outset.
Djokovic got off to the perfect start with four service winners in the opening game, including two aces, and didn’t really drop that momentum from there.
The first set seemed to rest on a solitary game – the fourth – when Kopriva saved six break points under immense pressure but not number seven. From there, his Serbian opponent did not drop another game in the set, remarkably losing just one point on serve all set.
He dropped three points on serve in all in the second set, which boasted another marathon game – its third, in which Djokovic broke again for a 3-0 lead. Kopriva looked up at his box as though trying to find answers to the barrage coming at him from the other side of the net, but none appeared to be forthcoming.
There was the most minor of wobbles for Djokovic when serving early in the third set and Kopriva took him to 30-30 but he held, broke a few games later and rounded off a 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 win.
This was Djokovic at his most comfortable on a court where he has won seven Wimbledon titles and is aiming to match Roger Federer for a record eighth.
Prior to the Championships, the 37-year-old said he would only play if he thought he could win in two weekends’ time. It’s too early to say whether he has the game and body for that off the back of this challenge.
