There was a winner hit midway through the first set, where Novak Djokovic perceptibly brought up the tempo, pace and threat to Australian opponent Thanasi Kokkinakis, aka Kokk. As he ran forward and hit on the forehand side the pace scorched past Kokk noticeably quicker than any that had come before.
The receptive Centre Court crowd gasped at the seemingly purposeful show of strength as the top seed nonchalantly turned and walked from the umpire chair and Ireland’s Fergus Murphy to the back court.
By then the top seed was 4-1 up against the one-time bad boy of tennis. Kokk and fellow Aussie Nick Kyrgios are buddies in crime and out of the blue won the doubles this year at the Australian Open and renamed their double act The Special Ks.
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It was Kyrgios who shouted “Get the f**k out” at a group of lippy spectators on Monday and in 2015 it was Kyrgios, who drew a large fine after making a crude and personal comment about Stan Wawrinka’s then-girlfriend, Donna Vekic, and compatriot Kokk.
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With a live mic, he addressed the Swiss Grand Slam champion, saying: “Kokkinakis banged your girlfriend. Sorry to tell you that mate.”
With that locker room background Kokk coloured the match with Djokovic in a particular way. But the champion was unchanging. His court presence was there and so was his ability to transfer pressure to his opponent and force him into playing a harem scarem game of risk taking that rarely worked out.
Djokovic’s withering forehand was a kind of warning, like popping his guns as Kokk strained to find winners that were rarely available, Djokovic squeezing all the time, his shots just inside the lines, his opponent’s just out. Djokovic trades on infallibility, with his impossible returns, his court posture, his demeanour and his 20 Grand Slam wins. That at least is how it looked in the 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 win over two hours.
“Yeah, tough. Wasn’t great from my end,” said Kokk. “Wasn’t able to execute. He does everything right. It was pretty one-way traffic. It was frustrating. But, you know, yeah, got chopped today. Wasn’t too much to it.
“He’s a wall. It’s playing a wall. That’s what it felt like. It felt like he just did everything right. He had a high first-serve percentage, he returned great. He volleyed well. He just made things uncomfortable. Tactically he was on point against me. He was rushing me quick.”
The first set was a whirlwind for Kokk as he adjusted to his first ever centre court outing and Djokovic was 3-0 up after 10 minutes. The Australian had oddly brought just two rackets with him to the match and broke a string in one of them during the first game, throwing his mind into a minor panic as he played on with his only remaining racket as the other was restrung.
Not surprisingly the first set quickly went to 5-1 with Kokk misfiring and mistiming shots and clearly thinking of his strings. Length, width, he just couldn’t find the precision under the Djokovic gaze, when everything had to be just so to stand any chance.
Kokk’s second serve yielded only a 33 per cent win in the match, which was as much to do with Djokovic’s stunning return capability. Again, the defending champion broke for 3-1 and never looking like a hair or tennis ball was out of place and served for the second set 6-4.
With few mistakes coming from his opponent, Kokk got nothing for free as Djokovic continued to play nerveless tennis and easily secured an early service break in the third set. Another then followed as the polished top seed coldly carved out the set 6-2 and as he did was making something of a statement.
As they walked to the tunnel the impression was Kokk might have been off for a beer, the magical Djokovic to get his energy fields recharged with crystals. The victory made it 23 wins in a row at Wimbledon for the winner, a run that stretches back to the 2017 quarter finals.
Afterwards Djokovic coolly and accurately summed up his performance.
“I think the quality of tennis was really high from my side,” he said. “I played with not too many unforced errors from back of the court. Whenever I needed to put the return in, I did.”
Djokovic was also asked to turn his mind to Boris Becker. The three-time former Wimbledon champion was jailed for two and a half years in May for hiding £2.5 million worth of assets and loans to avoid paying his debts. Becker remained high-profile following retirement through his work as a TV pundit and as a successful coach of Djokovic for three years from December 2013.
“Noah and his younger brother Elias are going to visit Boris I think in the next few days for the first time since he went to prison,” said Djokovic. “I’ve just been trying to give support to people around him. I consider Boris really a family member, someone that I greatly appreciate, respect, and care about.
“We’ve been through a lot together during those three years of collaboration. Our relationship dates back even before that. Of course, after we finished our professional relationship, we always stayed close, him with my team, with my agents, with my family. It breaks my heart to see what’s happening to him.”
For the draw it maybe breaks their hearts to see how the defending champion has stepped up.
