Wimbledon 2023Novak Djokovic fights past resurgent Jordan Thompson to book Round 3 berth

By Sabyasachi ChowdhuryWorld No.2 Novak Djokovic had to fight hard in his Wimbledon 2023 men’s singles Round 2 match against Australia’s Jordan Thompson. But the 22-time Grand Slam champion won the match 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 in two hours and 28 minutes on centre court.

Djokovic also won his 350th major match, thereby becoming only the third after Roger Federer (369) and Serena Williams (365) to the milestone. Djokovic is also looking to equal Federer’s record of most Wimbledon slams.

Djokovic earned only one break in the first set and that turned out to be decisive in the context of the set. Thompson couldn’t break Djokovic’s serve in the second set, but didn’t concede one either. The set went into a tie-break where the very experienced Djokovic came up trumps.

“I don’t really know if I wanted to meet him this early in the tournament, but congratulations to him for a great performance today. He was a bit unlucky in the second set, he had some chances, but he played a great match. He deserves a big round of applause for sure,” Djokovic was quoted as saying.

The 36-year-old Djokovic earned a break of serve in the third set to fight past Thompson, who was not willing to give up. In fact, Thompson hit 43 winners, three more than Djokovic. To make it tougher for Djokovic, he smashed as many as 21 aces. However, he made 20 unforced errors compared to his opponent and that eventually led to his downfall.

Djokovic is next set to lock horns with the winner of the match between Stan Wawrinka and Tomas Martin Etcheverry.