Wimbledon 2023: Djokovic on court after delay, Swiatek wins – live
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Lestienne breaks Broady then is broken back himself, so they’re at 2-2 in the third, Broady having taken the first two. Elsewhere, Cachin holds for 5-5 in the third, and Auger-Aliassime makes 5-5 in the second. Mmoh, though, looks really solid.
Djokovic, by the way, hasn’t lost on grass for five years and the grass of Centre Court for 10. What a preposterous individual he really is.
Djokovic, two sets to the good, holds for 5-4 in the third, and Cachin will shortly serve to stay in the match – good luck with that one old mate. Meanwhile, Ruud and Lokoli are now 3-3 in the third having split the first two, and Mmoh, leading 7-6(4) 5-4 has forced Auger-Aliassime to serve to stay in set two.
Burrage, of course, attracted fame and fortune after dispensing Percy Pigs to an ill ballkid during last year’s competition and shonuff she had an unusual practice partner last week.
In British news, a few minutes ago Broady too the second set to lead Lestienne 6-1 6-3 1-0, and in the women’s competition, Jodie Burrage leads Caty McNally 6-1.
Jodie Burrage whips a forehand to Caty McNally. Photograph: Victoria Jones/PAOtherwise, let’s have a look around the courts. Ruud and Lokoli are 1-1 and 2-2 in third; Goffin leads Lucky Loser, or Fábián Marozsán as he’s also known, 6-2 5-7 5-2; Moutet is serving for a 2-0 lead against Gasquet leading 6-3 6-5; Baindl and Fernandez will shortly begin a decider; and Kasatkina leads Dolehide 2-0.
Ukraine's Kateryna Baindl serves to Canada's Leylah Fernandez. Photograph: Alberto Pezzali/APJust before the rain, I put Mmoh v Auger-Aliassime on my third screen because I quite fancied the former, a big server who’s got more in him than we’ve seen in his career so far. And he leads 7-6(4) 3-3!
Thanks Will and hi again everyone. We’ve got so much more to come, so let’s get on with it.
Relief for Ruud, who breaks Lokoli in the third set to take a 2-1 lead. Some more good news! Daniel back from the school run.
Cachin saves a Break Point and then does the business at deuce. Djokovic might be on his way to victory but the Argentinian is not making it easy for the Serb. It stands 2-2 in the third.
It is great to see Lokoli make a game of this. He is 28 and has spent most of his career on the Challenger circuit, this being only his fourth time at a grand slam. To be doing this against one of the world’s best on Court No 1 must be an incredible feeling.
Lokoli wins the second set! Lokoli earns two break points against Ruud, to give him the chance to seal the second set. The first sees the Frenchman go long but the Norwegian does likewise straight after. Lokoli rightly enjoys the moment.
Some nice easy work for Swiatek earlier to kick off her competition. Here is the report.
Lokoli is on the money once more to lead 6-5 in the second. Ruud looks a little frustrated with this match dragging out.
Laurent Lokoli winds up a forehand. Photograph: Adam Vaughan/EPARuud holds his serve to make it 5-5 in the second. He admits to not being particularly comfortable and is yet to make it beyond the second round at Wimbledon, so Lokoli might sniff a chance.
Lokoli is, potentially, one game away from winning the second set against Ruud. The French qualifier has matched his more esteemed colleague throughout after a dismal start to the match.
Djokovic breaks to win the second set against Cachin. The Serb has one foot in the next round.
Baindl and Fernandez have just played a cracking rally, culminating in the latter volleying a win to take the first game of the second set, having won the first.
Cachin is causing Djokovic a few problems but the Serb always seems able to respond, whether it’s with an ace or clever passing shot. Djokovic leads 4-2 in the second after winning the opening set.
Broady wins his first set against Lestienne 6-1, despite only getting half of his first serves in.
Liam Broady on his way to taking the first set. Photograph: Steven Paston/PALokoli has settled into the match after a very nervous first set. The second is going with serve but Ruud has looked in trouble against the Frenchman, forcing the Norwegian to seek advice from his coach/father.
Liam Broady is about to restart his match out on Court 15 against Constant Lestienne. The Stopfordian is currently 4-1 up against the Frenchman, who seems to be playing in football socks.
The outer courts seem to be filling with players once more, which is good news for those in attendance. Plenty to feast the eyes upon.
And Djokovic breaks Cachin immediately, even if he did require three attempts to do so. I cannot see the matches on Centre nor No 1 going the distance.
In the blink of an eye, Djokovic wins his first service game of the second set against Cachin. Good luck, Pedro, old chum.
British is fine, do not worry.
Hello! It looks like we will have plenty of matches back on court very soon. Ruud has taken the first set against Lokoli with limited fuss. Djokovic is knocking up for his match, so will be in action imminently.
The problem with Centre, we learn, was the internal humidity preventing the grass from drying, but we’re here now, and here’s Will Unwin to tell you all about it – I’m off to do the school run. See you in an hour, mates.
Yes! We’re back out on Centre while, on No1, Lokoli has held for 1-5. Well done him, hopefully he now settles and does himself justice.
Lokoli can’t get himself settled, at all, and now trails Ruud, who is just so solid, 0-4. Oh and what’s this? I see we’ve got covers coming off around the courts! Meanwhile on Centre, still nowt.
Casper Ruud returns against Laurent Lokoli. Photograph: Adam Vaughan/EPATell you what, though, how about this for nominative determinism? A lucky loser called actual Lucky Loser! Seriously, what’re the chances?
“Match Suspended – Slippery Surface” says the BBC’s caption on Centre. Ignoring their flagrant abuse of upper case letters for a second, it’s not really right that the line isn’t isn’t followed by one reading “Despite The Best Efforts of Novak Djokovic, Esq.” Disgraceful.
That guy…
Lokoli does well to force his way back from 0-40 to 30-40 – he looks nervous – then finds himself marooned at the net at a backhand whizzes past. Ruud leads 2-0.
We’ve started again on No1, Ruud serving against Lokoli. He holds to 15, and now we’ve got three lads with grass-dryers sorting Centre.
“There is some rain forecast next week at Wimbledon,” notes Faiz Muhammad AL-Noman. “I wonder if rain washes out the whole day’s play on an outside court how Wimbledon can manage their schedule? Are there any special arrangements like floodlights or something like that?”
It doesn’t get dark till pretty late in London – it starts closing in around 9pm – but both show courts have lights, so we’d start early and finish late if we had to.
Ah, there’s a lad drying the court now, with what looks like a leaf-blower. We can’t be far away from tennis.
No pressure lads. Photograph: Shaun Botterill/Getty ImagesLovely stuff: our players are out on No1, and on Centre they’re patrolling, wiping up moisture and such. Djokovic, clubman that he is, fans the grass with his jacket, then solves poverty and brings about world peace. What more do people want, eh?
“I‘m back!” emails James, with whom I performed banter during Ronald-Garros. “So we can do it all again on the grass now (joke!) With the caveat that we largely agree on Novak as the statistical goat (if not the eye-test goat of the average, casual tennis fan aka most people watching Wimbledon!) for all the talk of the GOAT (men’s!) discussion being closed with Novak’s 23rd Slam, superior head-to-head with Federer/Nadal/Murray, most Masters 1000, at least 3 of each slam, most slam finals, most weeks (by a mile!) at world number 1, what might be overlooked is this”
Neither Federer nor Nadal have HELD ALL 4 SLAMS AT THE SAME TIME (2015-2016) - non-calendar grand slam, and none came within a match of winning a calendar year grand slam (2021) either! That might be Novak’s true greatness. I think Nadal won three slams in a row in 2010 and flamed out in the semis in Aus Open in 2011 to, I think, Ferrer (injury). Fed might have done it multiple times but he rarely won three slams in a row as the French (and Nadal) always got in the way (although I think he did do it in 2006-2007 and got to the Final of the French). Novak is halfway there and, as you rightly say, there’s no other obvious candidate for Wimbledon given how few past Wimbledon winners are left in the draw (basically an old and crocked Murray but he ain’t winning more than about three rounds I don’t think, given he won’t be seeded). Grass is a specialist surface and other than Kyrgios suddenly stringing it together (this aged well!), with Berrettini, the obvious outstanding grass court player not named Djokovic over the past three years, there’s just nobody. Which basically means Alcaraz, with under a dozen grass matches his entire career – probably wins it (nothing does irony quite like tennis!)
The closest since Laver to even get close to it and if he wins Wimbledon, you just never know. He’s never been the best on US hardcourts – all relative but five losing finals in Flushing Meadows) which is surprising given how good he is on outdoor hardcourts. He might just bookend a career (THE career) by putting that record straight this summer.”
Yup, the only metric by which Djokovic isn’t the greatest is the eye test. Actually, we might also say others have hit higher standards than his best – McEnroe in 1984, say – but all things considered, the numbers are overwhelming.
The umpire confirms that it’s taking longer than expected to dry the court, but hopes we’ll be back on soon – he doesn’t give a time period – while Djokovic continues showing he’s everyone’s best mate, chatting to people knocking around. He’s so loveable!
“These four, added to Mac Millings’s effort, will make a combined ‘Tennis XI’.” says Simon McMahon. “Hope he, and you, don’t mind:
Wimble-Don BudgeAndre A-grass-iClay-ton HewittPete Sampr-ace.”
Add to that a couple of mine: Manuela Maletva, Gabriela Sabbatennisini and
On Centre, the players are back out … and now they’re back in, presumably having experienced the damp for themselves.
Coming up next on No1: Laurent Lokoli v Casper Ruud [4].
Swiatek says that after the French Open she was able to take time out to “appreciate what happened” and that’s great to hear – too many sportsfolk look back and think they didn’t appreciate the good times because as soon as they happened, they were onto the next thing. She looks very confident indeed.
Iga Swiatek [1] beats Zhu Lin 6-1 6-3!We get back on No1 and immediately, the top seed gets off it, polishing off Zhu to set up a second-round meeting with Trevisan or Sorribes Tormo.
On court, they’re rubbing the grass to check for moisture, so perhaps we’re actually looking at a slightly longer stoppage than I suggested while it dries out. I’m surprised as the rain wasn’t that heavy to begin with and they got the covers on quicksmart.
