Novak Djokovic shrugged off sweltering 30-degree heat to breeze past Adam Pavlasek 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 and reach the Wimbledon third round yesterday.
The three-time champion brushed aside the 136rd-ranked Czech on Court One to make the last-32 for the ninth year in succession. Djokovic, the second seed, whose shock third round loss to Sam Querrey at Wimbledon last year precipitated a worrying decline in form, will next face either Juan Martin del Potro or Ernests Gulbis.
Bernard Tomic may have been knocked out but the Australian was still making waves on Thursday when he was fined 15,000 pounds after claiming he was “bored” during his lacklustre defeat to Mischa Zverev.
Tomic, who was accused of “unsportsmanlike behaviour” had also admitted he called for the trainer even though he was not injured to try to disrupt his opponent’s momentum.
Russia’s Daniil Medvedev was slapped with a 14,500 pound fine after a series of disputes with umpire Mariana Alves during his five-set loss to Ruben Bemelmans in the second round.
Medvedev ended the match by throwing coins in the direction of umpire’s chair although he insisted the bizarre gesture was not meant to imply that the official was corrupt.
Meanwhile, the injuries continued to pile up at Wimbledon when Belgium’s Steve Darcis, who famously knocked out Rafael Nadal four years ago, retired at 3-0 down to David Ferrer.
Darcis needed a medical time-out on his injured groin before quitting one point later. Eight men and one woman have now retired from their singles matches.
This post was published on July 7, 2017 6:34 pm