“It’s his last Wimbledon so I just congratulated him for a terrific career”, Djokovic added.
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USA Open champion Marin Cilic survived a hard marathon with Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis before coming through 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (6), 4-6, 7-5.
The men’s field lost one of its top players Wednesday when fifth-seeded Kei Nishikori – who could have faced Djokovic in the quarterfinals – withdrew before his scheduled Centre Court meeting with Santiago Giraldo of Colombia.
On Friday it was the turn of the talented Australian Bernard Tomic to feel the heat of the Djokovic game as the world No1 recorded a 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 victory that was utterly ruthless.
“It has been great so far”.
“He’s one of the nicest guys on the tour that I know on and off the court”.
According to the Guardian, “Novak Djokovic, the world’s top tennis player, performs a striptease during a Wimbledon warm-up match against Frenchman Richard Gasquet at Boodles tennis tournament in Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire”. I’m sure he wanted to enjoy it a little bit. “I was tired and starting to get dizzy out there with the heat hitting me”, he told reporters. “I thought I had the match under control and everything was fine”. If the scars are any deeper after his latest Paris disappointment, losing to Stan Wawrinka in the final, they are well hidden and he will surely draw strength from his efforts of 12 months ago, when he beat Roger Federer in five sets to clinch a second Wimbledon title.
But the Serb believes Tomic will present a formidable barrier to his passage on the Australian’s favoured grass surface. Variety in his serve will therefore be crucial to holding his service games. The flamboyant “bad boy”, who had run-ins with chair umpires in his first two victories, managed to keep his temper in check as he got to work against Raonic. He can play shot slice, come to the net.
The world number 29 said the unusually warm weather has been the talk of the locker room this week and hinted that it was time for Wimbledon chiefs to let men play under the same rules that permit women players to take a 10-minute break between the second and third sets when the temperature goes above 30.1C.
Four years after the Serbian ended the then 18-year-old’s sensational Wimbledon run in the 2011 quarter-finals, the pair will meet again. It was not that easy, that situation for me in the second set.
In what was generally a good day for the seeds, the Belgian was joined in the third round by Milos Raonic, the Canadian running out a 6-0, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4) victor against another veteran, Tommy Haas of Germany.
He’ll next face big-serving Kevin Anderson, the 14th-seeded South African, who beat Leonardo Mayer of Argentina 6-4, 7-6 (6), 6-3. “I returned well today and created a lot of chances”.
Djokovic then sealed the win in the third when the Finn hit well wide on match point, 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 is the final score.
Cilic will next face John Isner, the 17th-seeded American who Matthew Ebden in straight sets.
Coco Vandeweghe of the United States made it to the third round for the first time, upsetting 11th-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic 7-6 (5), 6-4.
“I knew what to expect from Johnson, We played each other a couple of times and also practised together, so nothing was new”.
“I’m not a doctor”, Isner said, “but…it was very scary”.
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Through the first two rounds Novak Djokovic has barely raised a sweat.
