London, June 30 (IANS) The seven-time champion Novak Djokovic made an entertaining start to his 21st Wimbledon campaign and toughed his way to 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 victory over China’s Yibing Wu in the opener here on Tuesday.

Serving well and playing far from poorly, the No.7 seed could not prevent Wu revelling in the Centre Court atmosphere. In the first set the world No.102 Chinese racked up 15 winners, albeit to an almost equal number of unforced errors.

The key came early in the second. Had Djokovic converted one of his early chances to break, he might have motored on to the kind of economical victory. But he didn’t, and Wu’s confidence multiplied as the crowd sang his name ever louder.

With the roof closed at the start of the third set, the Serb found himself continuously tested. Playing just his fifth tournament of the year thanks to a shoulder injury, Djokovic mined every ounce of will to break Wu deep in the third set.

The Serbian dug deep to win the third set and was then went into lockdown mode in the key exchanges in the fourth to improve to 21-0 in Wimbledon first rounds. The Serbian fended off six break points in the fourth set, including three from 0/40 at 2-3, before eventually triumphing after three hours and 11 minutes.

Djokovic is competing on grass for the first time this year and he is playing in just his fifth tour-level event of the season. The 101-time tour-level titlist’s best result in 2026 came at the Australian Open, where he reached the final.

“Wu deserves huge applause for his incredible performance,” Djokovic said. “He put me under a lot of pressure. I probably should have lost that fourth set. These kind of matches are decided in a few points. Fortunately I have the experience of 20 years to manage this kind of situation. But it would be nice to combine all that experience with a new, young, fresh body,” he added.

–IANS

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