World No. 2 seed and seven-time Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic started his 2023 campaign with a rather mature win against Argentina's Pedro Cachin after a delayed start. The dark clouds and a shower delayed the start of Djokovic's Round 1 game at SW19, which led to the Serbian drying the court with his own towel as Djokovic interacted with fans and looked in a good mood even though the delay lasted almost 90 minutes but as soon as the game started he meant business.
Djokovic beat Cachin 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (4) in a solid performance as he equalled Rafael Nadal's iconic Grand Slam feat. This was Djokovic's 18th first-round win in Wimbledon, which is equal to Nadal's first-round wins at Rolland Garros. Only Roger Federer, with 21 opening-round wins in Australian Open followed by 19 in US Open is ahead with Djokovic himself following the Swiss in third spot with 19 wins in French Open.
In his own admission, the game may be one of the strangest Wimbledon openers for Djokovic as he came out with towels rather than rackets but he was happy for the crowd to get the game and eventually come out with a win. The start wasn't ideal for the Serb as he erred in second service making a double fault on the break point before he calmed himself down and re-started.
Djokovic found his glorious touch again and there he was dominating his opponent like only he can. The delays during the game didn't help as the rain started falling when the first set was nearing its end but once it passed away, Djokovic was unstoppable. He won the first two rounds with rather ease before his Argentine opponent struck back in the third round.
Cachin matched Djokovic shot for shot as he gave him a hard time before the world champion prevailed, in the end, to move to Round 2. The win was also his 29th straight win at Wimbledon having never lost a match at the Slam since 2017 in men's singles. Djokovic's 29 wins is the fourth-longest streak in Wimbledon after Bjorn Borg's 41 wins, Federer's 40 and Pete Sampras' 31.
Coco Gauff suffers shock exit
American teen sensation and World No. 4 Coco Gauff suffered a surprising first-round exit at Wimbledon 2023, four years after she announced herself to the world by beating Venus Williams at the Centre Court. Tipped by many as a possible champion this year, Gauff was bounced out by her compatriot Sofia Kenin 4-6, 6-4, 2-6. In other singles matches, Venus Williams was stunned by Elina Svitolina while Iga Swiatek beat China's Zhu Lin 6-1, 6-3 in straight sets to move to the second round.
