After his truncated opening round, Novak Djokovic is finally up and running at Wimbledon 2017. He eased his way into the third round with a simple, seemingly effortless 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 dismissal of Adam Pavlasek from the Czech Republic.
The young and – at this level at least – inexperienced Pavlasek was not able to push Djokovic but the simple feeling of playing three full sets on the Wimbledon grass brought a huge smile to the former champion’s face.
“I managed to impose my own rhythm and play the game I intended to play,” Djokovic said. “I feel better as days go by in Wimbledon. I have been in this position before so I will try to use that experience, knowing what to do on a daily basis and to get myself in the right shape, the right state of mind and hopefully the right performance. From my side, it was all working well.”
Down in the press bunker, the inky-fingered scribes are provided with mountains of stats, information packs and background details on all the players and all the matches (it keeps us happy and quiet; think of it like throwing buns to the elephants at the zoo). But a brief scan of the facts and figures surrounding this particular second round tie revealed the sheer scale of the challenge ahead of Pavlasek.
Djokovic’s Grand Slam win-loss record stood at 234-38, a stat that took in his 12 Grand Slam titles including three here in SW19. Pavlasek’s was a slightly smaller 2-2. Djokovic’s career win-loss record was 780-162 (which explains the 68 trophies he has filling his trophy cabinet at home). Pavlasek’s was 4-7.
But there was one glimmer of hope: Pavlasek’s Wimbledon record was a pristine 1-0. Played one; won one. And that one was on Tuesday against Ernesto Escobedo. It may have been overshadowed by Djokovic’s impressive figures of 55 wins to only nine defeats in the past 12 years, but never mind. Pavlasek had to look on the bright side.
I feel better as days go by in Wimbledon. From my side, it was all working well
Alas, the bright side was dimmed ever so slightly when Djokovic, whose first round opponent Martin Klizan retired, broke in the opening game. Watched by Andre Agassi (who at this point had adopted the very fetching sweat-shirt-over-the-head look to protect his pate from the blistering sunshine) and Mario Ancic, the world No.4 unleashed a few backhands, bossed matters from the baseline and then threw in a swift foray to the net. This drew approving nods from his coaches and a running commentary from Agassi.
Back in his playing days, in the middle part of his career, Agassi was coached by Brad Gilbert, a mentor and guide of great renown but a bloke who does like a bit of a chat. Oh, my, how Mr Gilbert can talk. Agassi always said that he had devised his own “Brad filter” and knew how to tune out the verbiage and just home in on the nuggets of wisdom.
Anyway, it does appear that Agassi has picked up his former coach’s habit: he can talk for Las Vegas when it comes to the minutiae and technicalities of tennis.
Back on court, Djokovic was moving along at a sprightly trot. The first set was over in just 30 minutes. It was not a perfect start from the former champion but it was more than enough for Pavlasek to deal with. True enough, Djokovic’s seven winners were nullified by his seven unforced errors but the Djokovic serve was all but untouchable. He dropped one point on his first serve and one point on his second serve (and that was a double fault) in that opening set.
As if playing Djokovic was not hard enough, Pavlasek was also fighting with a bad case of stage fright. This is his first appearance at Wimbledon and here he was on one the most famous show courts in the sport playing his great idol. No pressure there, then. Yet, after the first set had been consigned to history, the Czech took a deep breath, cleared his head and slowed his pulse rate and started to play a little better.
Still only 22 years old and making his way on the rankings ladder (he is the world No.136), he has spent much of his time on the Challenger circuit but that is beginning to change. He showed touch – he likes a drop shot – he stood firm at the net when he had to and he did his best to construct his points with care. The only problem was that none of this was giving Djokovic any trouble. As Pavlasek played a little better so Djokovic fiddled with the transmission, selected a higher gear and pulled away again.
It was not the do-or-die struggle that would reveal exactly where Djokovic’s powers of defence, stamina and resilience were at the moment but it was a good enough start. Messrs Agassi and Ancic would have been pleased: the man may still be a work in progress but on this showing, that progress is coming along nicely.
