WIMBLEDON, 3 Jul: Novak Djokovic and Iga Swiatek advanced with straight-set victories Monday despite a rain delay as Wimbledon got started.
\nVenus Williams and Coco Gauff are among the other big names in action later on Day 1.
\nIt is the year\u2019s third major tournament \u2014 and Djokovic won the first two: the Australian Open in January and the French Open in June. That puts him halfway to the first calendar-year Grand Slam in men\u2019s tennis since 1969. He came close to the feat in 2021, falling just one victory short when he lost in the final of the U.S. Open.
\nHe seeks a fifth consecutive title at the All England Club and eighth overall, which both would tie records for men.
\nDjokovic\u2019s title at Roland Garros was his 23rd at a Slam event, breaking a tie with Rafael Nadal for the men\u2019s mark in that category.
\nDjokovic, the No. 2 seed, beat Pedro Cachin 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (4) after a rain relay that lasted more than an hour. Groundskeepers used leaf blowers to dry the grass.
\n\u201cIt was definitely frustrating, of course, for all the crowd. For us players, we both wanted to play but the conditions were not great, obviously still slippery,\u201d Djokovic said of the delay.
\nThe 36-year-old Serb used a towel to help dry some wet spots: \u201cI normally come out with rackets, not with towels.\u201d
\nSwiatek, who owns four major titles but hasn\u2019t been past the fourth round at the All England Club, beat Zhu Lin of China 6-1, 6-3 at No. 1 Court, winning the final two games after the roof was closed following a rain delay.
\nSwiatek said she feels better prepared for the grass-court major this year following her title at the French Open.
\n\u201cAfter Roland Garros,\u201d she said on court, \u201cI really took some time to just appreciate what happened. Last year, when I won Roland Garros, it was my second Grand Slam so it still felt, like, overwhelming, but this time I really could just focus on celebrating and actually getting back to work with more peace in my head and I try to be open minded for the grass season and I think it\u2019s working. Hopefully I\u2019m going to be able keep that mindset.\u201d
\nBarbora Strycova, a semifinalist in 2019, became the first winner of this year\u2019s tournament by beating Maryna Zanevska 6-1, 7-5. On the men\u2019s side, seventh-seeded Andrey Rublev beat Max Purcell 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 on No. 3 Court.
\nDjokovic will be followed in the main stadium by Williams, a 43-year-old participating in the sport\u2019s oldest major tournament for the 24th time and taking on Elina Svitolina of Ukraine. Williams \u2014 whose younger sister, Serena, retired after last season \u2014 won five of her seven Grand Slam singles trophies at Wimbledon.
\nAfter Swiatek at No. 1 Court, three-time Grand Slam runner-up Casper Ruud was playing Laurent Lokoli. And then Gauff \u2014 a 19-year-old American who was a French Open finalist last year \u2014 will face 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin. (AP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WIMBLEDON, 3 Jul: Novak Djokovic and Iga Swiatek advanced with straight-set victories Monday despite a rain delay as Wimbledon got started. Venus Williams and Coco Gauff are among the other big names in action later on Day 1. It is the year\u2019s third major tournament \u2014 and Djokovic won the first two: the Australian Open […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-219651","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219651\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}