Wimbledon | Iga Swiatek and Novak Djokovic win their first game

(Wimbledon) World No. 1 Iga Swiatek and Serbian Novak Djokovic made it through the first round despite a rain delay on the first day of the Wimbledon Open tennis tournament, where some of the biggest names in tennis were expected this sport.

Djokovic, the second player in the world, started his tournament with a victory in three sets of 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (4) against the Argentinian Pedro Cachin.

Djokovic’s match, scheduled on Center Court at the All England Club — one of the complex’s two roofed stadiums — was suspended for more than an hour due to rain. Groundskeepers used leaf blowers to dry out the lawn.

“There is no doubt that it was frustrating for all the spectators. We players wanted to play but the conditions weren’t that good. It was obvious it was still slippery,” Djokovic said of the delay.

At times, Djokovic used a towel to dry out some corners of the pitch.

“I’m used to showing up with snowshoes, not towels,” he said.

This is the third leg of the Grand Slam of professional tennis, and in men’s singles, Djokovic won the first two, first in Melbourne in January and then in Paris in June.

He is therefore halfway to the calendar Grand Slam, a tour de force which has not been achieved in men’s singles since 1969. Djokovic came close to achieving the feat in 2021 but he lost in the final at the International des United States against Russian Daniil Medvedev.

Djokovic is also looking for a fifth consecutive All England Club title, and an eighth career, which would allow him to equal two men’s records.

Thanks to his triumph at the French Open, Djokovic totals 23 singles titles at Grand Slam tournaments, a men’s tennis record.

As for Swiatek, she began her quest for a fifth Grand Slam title on Monday with a 6-1, 6-3 win over China’s Zhu Lin.

The Pole, who has never made it past the fourth round at Wimbledon, has won the last two games under the roof of court number one after a rain break.

The honor of the tournament’s first win in 2023 went to 2019 semi-finalist Barbora Strycova, who defeated Maryna Zanevska 6-1, 7-5. On the men’s side, seventh-seeded Russian Andrey Rublev beat Max Purcell 6-3, 7-5, 6-4.