Defending champion Novak Djokovic wins record 80th Wimbledon match, beating Korea’s Kwon Soon-woo; Serb drops a set and admits being uncomfortable since he did not play any lead-up games
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic stretches as he returns to South Korea’s Kwon Soon-woo during their first-round match on Day One at Wimbledon in London yesterday. Pics/AFP
Defending champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia overcame a scare to notch up a record 80th Wimbledon win on Monday with a hardfought four-sets victory over Kwon Soon-woo of South Korea.
Six-time champion Djokovic triumphed 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 under the Centre Court roof. However, the top seed was made to work hard after falling a break down in the opening two sets against his 81st-ranked opponent—losing the second of those.
Kwon Soon-woo
Djokovic becomes the first tennis player, man or woman, to record 80 singles wins at all four Grand Slam tournaments. “Now we have got to 80, let’s get to 100,” said Djokovic, a 20-time Grand Slam title winner.
Also Read: Supermodel Kendall Jenner, NBA star Devin Booker break up
“I didn’t play any lead-up tournaments before Wimbledon so you always feel less comfortable. Kwon stays close to the lines, hits clean forehands and backhands so I had to find a way to go through him. That meant figuring out tactically how to get control of the points,” he added.
Djokovic will face either Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis or Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak for a place in the last 32.
This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
