{"id":81010,"date":"2023-07-04T11:27:14","date_gmt":"2023-07-04T11:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/07\/04\/novak-djokovic-overcomes-rain-delay-to-beat\/"},"modified":"2023-07-04T11:27:14","modified_gmt":"2023-07-04T11:27:14","slug":"novak-djokovic-overcomes-rain-delay-to-beat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/07\/04\/novak-djokovic-overcomes-rain-delay-to-beat\/","title":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic overcomes rain delay to beat"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Novak Djokovic dried the court with his towel and urged the crowd to \u201cblow\u201d in a farcical rain delay as his Wimbledon title defence began with a win.<\/p>\n

Djokovic beat Argentina\u2019s Pedro Cachin 6-3 6-3 7-6 (7-4) on Centre Court.<\/p>\n

But after the first set there was no play for 80 minutes, despite the closed roof, with Djokovic dabbing the grass before ground staff used leaf blowers.<\/p>\n

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\u201cEvery time I come out I normally have racquets, not towels \u2013 it was fun to do something different,\u201d Djokovic said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a little bit [of] a strange feeling but hopefully you guys liked it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was definitely frustrating for all the crowd waiting for us to come out on court. We both wanted to play but the conditions were not great and still slippery.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce the roof was open it was a different story and after five or 10 minutes we were able to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Djokovic, aiming to secure his eighth Wimbledon title and match Roger Federer\u2019s record for a male player, will now play Australia\u2019s\u00a0Jordan Thompson,<\/strong>\u00a0ranked 70th in the world, following his five-set win over American\u00a0Brandon Nakashima,<\/strong>\u00a055th in the world.<\/p>\n

Amusing scenes as Djokovic tries to dry the court<\/strong><\/p>\n

Djokovic, who has not lost on Centre Court since being beaten by Andy Murray in the 2013 final, was a break up in the first set, but complained the surface was getting slippery with drops of rain falling.<\/p>\n

He wrapped up the set just before a shower at 14:20 BST, with the roof then fully closed 15 minutes later.<\/p>\n

But in that time enough water had got on to the court before the covers came on to cause a lengthy delay.<\/p>\n

\"Novak<\/figure>\n

The players were off court for nearly 80 minutes with Novak Djokovic helping to dry the court<\/em><\/p>\n

With the covers off and the roof still closed, the players inspected the surface at 14:55, but were not happy with it and the crowd were told by the umpire that \u201cthe court is taking longer than expected to dry\u201d.<\/p>\n

There followed some amusing scenes when Djokovic appeared with a towel, urged the 15,000-strong crowd to \u201cblow\u201d at the same time to dry the court, with him then wiping the grass himself.<\/p>\n

After that, three members of ground staff, each armed with a leaf blower, also tried to dry the surface, while the fans began to get restless with a half-hearted slow hand clap and then a Mexican wave.<\/p>\n

With the leaf blowers and the towel not doing enough, the roof was reopened at 15:40 in an attempt to dry the grass naturally with the rain having stopped.<\/p>\n

\"Ground<\/figure>\n

Three members of ground staff tried to dry the court with dryers during the rain delay<\/em><\/p>\n

It did the job and play resumed just before 15:50 with Djokovic able to take control with two breaks in the second set against his opponent, who battled hard but was outclassed.<\/p>\n

If he keeps winning, Djokovic will not have to play a top-30-ranked opponent until the fourth round at the earliest.<\/p>\n

Returning Rublev \u2018happy to be back\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s seventh seed\u00a0Andrey Rublev<\/strong>\u00a0is a potential opponent for Djokovic in the quarter-finals and he began his campaign with a 6-3 7-5 6-4 success over Australia\u2019s Max Purcell.<\/p>\n

Rublev, unable to play at Wimbledon in 2022 because of the ban handed out to Russian and Belarusian players after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, was only in trouble in the second set at 5-2 down before he won five games in a row in a 6-3 7-5 6-4 victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel really happy to be back, because I haven\u2019t played much Wimbledon \u2013 I was injured or it was the pandemic or then they ban us,\u201d said Rublev.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels really special to play at one of the best tournaments and to get a win was a nice moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if he felt Wimbledon made a mistake by forcing the ban on Russian players last year, Rublev, who wrote \u2018No War Please\u2019 on a camera lens after advancing to the final at the Dubai Championships in February 2022, replied: \u201cWe were talking and I think we could find the solution.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we really want to help or do what is better for tennis and for the people, obviously there were better options. Not just to ban, because in the end, [there] was no difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it is what it is. Now we are here, and I\u2019m really happy to be back and to compete.\u201d<\/p>\n

Norwegian fourth seed\u00a0Casper Ruud,<\/strong>\u00a0who lost to Djokovic in last month\u2019s French Open final, was tested by Laurent Lokoli of France before eventually going through in four sets on Court One.<\/p>\n

Ruud will play Great Britain\u2019s Liam Broady in the second round.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, there were successes for 14th seed\u00a0Lorenzo Musetti<\/strong>\u00a0and 17th seed\u00a0Hubert Hurkacz\u00a0<\/strong>against Juan Pablo Varillas of Peru and Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain respectively.<\/p>\n

But there was a first-round exit for Canadian 11th seed\u00a0Felix Auger-Aliassime,<\/strong>\u00a0who lost in four sets to American Michael Mmoh.<\/p>\n

The first three sets all went to tie-breaks before Mmoh, ranked 119th in the world and whose only previous singles appearance at Wimbledon was a first-round loss in 2018, closed out a 7-6 6-7 7-6 6-4 victory.<\/p>\n

Number eight seed\u00a0Jannik Sinner<\/strong>\u00a0from Italy completed his victory over Juan Manuel Cerundolo on Centre Court at 21:20 BST, but ninth seed\u00a0Taylor Fritz<\/strong>\u00a0was one of the players forced off by bad light \u2013 the American is 3-2 up on serve in the final set against Germany\u2019s Yannick Hanfmann.<\/p>\n

Three-time Grand Slam champion\u00a0Stan Wawrinka<\/strong>\u00a0wrapped up a 7-5 7-5 6-4 win over Finland\u2019s Emil Ruusuvuori.<\/p>\n

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