Novak Djokovic reached the Wimbledon second round on Monday as 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt’s 17-year All England Club career came to a bruising end.
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Defending champion Djokovic enjoyed a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win over Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber with crucial breaks in the ninth game of each set.
But the world number one and top seed again found himself defending allegations that coach Boris Becker is using various means to coach him from the sidelines, a practice which is banned.
“I’m just trying to figure out what you want to achieve with this story. Do you want to say I’m cheating, my team? I’m really trying to figure out what’s behind this,” fumed the 28-year-old Djokovic.
The usually affable Serb added: “There are certain ways of communication which is encouragement, which is support, which is understanding the moment when to clap or say something that can lift my energy up, that can kind of motivate me to play a certain point. But it’s all within the rules.”
Djokovic, playing his first match since his defeat to Stan Wawrinka in the French Open final three weeks ago ended his hopes of completing a career Grand Slam, hit 12 aces and 36 winners past world number 33 Kohlschreiber. He next faces Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen who defeated Hewitt 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-0, 11-9 in a four-hour marathon.
.@lleytonhewitt is about to embark on his final #Wimbledon campaign. Good luck #Rusty! #GoAussies pic.twitter.com/WVZi45AiMB
— TennisAustralia (@TennisAustralia) June 29, 2015
It was Hewitt’s last singles match at the tournament — and 44th five-setter at the majors — as he plans to retire after next year’s Australian Open. “I probably don’t cry easily — pretty close today, but not quite,” said Hewitt.
Australia’s 26th seed Nick Kyrgios, who knocked out Rafael Nadal last year, eased past Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman 6-0, 6-2, 7-6 (8/6).
US Open champion Marin Cilic, the ninth seeded Croatian and a quarter-finalist at Wimbledon last year, got past Japanese qualifier Hiroki Moriya 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (7/4). Germany’s Tommy Haas, at 37 years and 100 days old, and who first played Wimbledon in 1997, beat Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 to become the oldest man to win a match at Wimbledon since Jimmy Connors (38 years 308 days) in 1991.
Japan’s fifth seed Kei Nishikori needed his lower left leg strapped before clinching a gruelling 6-3, 6-7 (4/7), 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 win over Italy’s Simone Bolelli. Meanwhile Canadian seventh seed Milos Raonic, a semi-finalist last year, beat Spain’s Daniel Gimeno 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7/4).
