DJOKOVIC STARTS DEFENCE

The world number one Novak Djokovic began his defence of the Wimbledon title with an easy victory over the Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero on the first day of the tournament. The Serb won in straight sets 6-3 6-3 6-1, and seemed to be enjoying his return to SW19 after such a thrilling win over Nadal in last year’s final. Djokovic was also given the honour of being the first to appear on centre court in 2012 gaining preference over the match of 6-time former champion Federer.

“It was a very unique feeling,” Novak said. “I think it’s the first time I have experienced that in my career. The grass was so soft, so smooth. It was great to play on. The grass is not like it used to be when it was more suited to serve-and-volley players. Now it’s more about baseline players, which made him [Ferrero] more dangerous for me.” This was just a courtesy though, as Djokovic looked comfortable throughout the match, and will be already looking forward to his next encounter. “The first two sets were exciting and close. I was very satisfied with my performance,” he said later.

The Serb’s next opponent will be the unseeded and big serving Ryan Harrison of the USA – you would think this match may also not be too taxing for the defending champion, and none of the next few potential match-ups will worry Novak too much. The next few possible opponents could be Stepanek, Monaco and Almagro, before things get interesting in the semifinals. At that point Federer may be able to cause some problems for him and of course if this test is passed then there will always be the probability of meeting his arch-enemy Nadal in the final – if this were to happen they would have met in each of the previous 5 Grand Slam finals.