Novak Djokovic left All England Club last night teetering on the brink of an early Wimbledon exit but remains in the draw after rain interrupted the beginning of the third set of his match against America’s Sam Querrey.
The top seed and world number one retired to the locker room two sets down against the big serving 28-year-old with the match now scheduled to finish on Saturday.
Djokovic’s is not the only delayed match. After five days of play not all the second-round clashes have been completed and the backlog has prompted the organisers to play matches on Sunday, traditionally a rest day for the players
After an unusual, low-energy display by the reigning champion, who was playing on court number one, which has no roof, the rain arrived at 8pm to save him from himself, at least overnight.
Djokovic missed shots he normally nails and with a weary- looking Boris Becker in his box trying hard not to impart any panic, Djokovic sped towards defeat losing in a tie-break for the first set and dropping serve twice in the second for 6-1.
Set point
Querrey aced the Serb on set-point in the second to claim the opening two stanzas in only 73 minutes.
Djokovic has beaten Querrey in eight of their 10 previous meetings, although the pair have never before played on grass.
Querrey, ranked 41 in the world to Djokovic’s one, could scarcely believe how the match was unfolding and when the rain began to fall during the break between the second and third sets he gazed up at the sky looking every bit prepared to damn the gods.
Djokovic is bidding to win his fifth straight Grand Slam and become just the second player in history to do that after Don Budge, who achieved the feat in 1937-38. Querrey has never before gone beyond the fourth round of a major, which he did at both the US Open and Wimbledon in 2010.
Comfortably through to round three is Juan Martin Del Potro, who began yesterday’s run of surprises when he beat fourth seed Stan Wawrinka 3-6, 6-3. 7-6 (2), 6-3.
When Del Potro arrived this year it was after a tortuous climb where he bounced between surgery and serving. His last competitive Grand Slam was at the 2014 Australian Open and since then the ongoing battles have been with his left wrist and career.
It is Del Potro’s fourth attempt back after three operations and the scars of the surgery are still there to see in his game, which against Wawrinka was a backhand that could deliver just sliced shots.
In that context and with such a handicap, his win over the Swiss player, who is twice a grand slam champion, in Melbourne and Paris, and who made it to last year’s quarter-final, is a quantum leap forward.
The 27-year-old had before yesterday become a cautionary tale of rise and fall in the sport. He won the US Open in 2009 but his injury prevented his booming ground strokes from playing any part in Roland Garros this year.
Since 2013, del Potro had played just one match against a top 10 player, losing in straight sets to Tomas Berdych at Indian Wells this year. Six years ago he was ranked as high as fourth in the world but came into Wimbledon this year at 165 on the ATP rankings having ended 2015 at 581.
Although he chased the opening set from 4-1 down to finally lose it 6-3, the Argentine was winning 75 per cent of his first serves and peaking the radar gun at 135 mph.
“I said before, this could be my second or third career after my surgeries,” said Del Potro. “It was really tough to come back on the sport after my third one. But now I’m enjoying tennis again.
Top positions
“I don’t know if I can be in the top positions again. But if not, I will be happy just to be playing tennis again.
“If I’m still doing the good things, maybe I have chance to be better in the future because I can play in the same level as the top guys in all surface. That’s means something good to me.”
He took the second set 6-3, won the third on a tie-break and put away the match in the fourth set 6-3 in under three hours.
The good news is that even if the back hand is a work in progress he is still crushing his forehands and a flat, well-timed swat from the 6ft 6in right-hander can still produce one of those wow moments.
Del Potro, however, did his best to down play his chances of doing any more damage to the main draw. It’s now a classic case of beware the injured player.
“As you can see, my backhand is not 100 per cent yet, because now I’m playing too much slices,” said Del Potro.
Roger Federer raced through his match against Britain’s Daniel Evans. The Swiss third seed won 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 on a closed Centre Court.
