When Roger Federer’s game flows at Wimbledon and his opponent knows his place you half expect him to slide into a deckchair at changeovers, pour cream on to some strawberries and tuck in.
It was like that on Centre Court yesterday as the King of Cool began his quest for an eighth title at the All England Club with a nonchalant dismantling of Bosnia’s Damir Dzumhur.
With the mercury soaring into the high 80s Fahrenheit as London prepares for a heatwave, spectators were spared the full glare of the mid-afternoon sun thanks to the welcome shade produced by the partly-extended roof.
For 88th-ranked Dzumhur though there was no escape from the dazzling shot-making of the Swiss maestro who won 6-1 6-3 6-3.
It was a similar story earlier as reigning women’s champion Petra Kvitova scorched the grass with some searing serves in a 35-minute demolition of Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens.
She dropped only one point on serve in a commanding first-round show of force that augurs well for her chances of repeating her title charge of 12 months ago when she blew Eugenie Bouchard away in a one-sided final.
With umbrellas popping up around the grounds, for shade not falling raindrops, London’s hottest day of the year so far also seemed to agree with Spain’s twice former champion Rafa Nadal.
Lurking in the draw as 10th seed after a mediocre year by his high standards, the 29-year-old bludgenoed his way past Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci, winning 6-4 6-2 6-4 on a sun-drenched Number One Court.
British flagbearer Andy Murray was also off to a solid start as he battled past Kazakh Mikhail Kukushkin 6-4 7-6 6-4.
The 23-year-old Dzumhur pushed Federer harder at the French Open this year, but looked like he had turned up uninvited to a Federer garden party on the world’s most famous lawn during a one-sided first set that was over in a flash.
He at least made Federer sweat after that, but not much as the free-swinging Swiss fired off winners and raced through service games in the blink of an eye.
“I’m sure in some crazy way he’s also enjoying himself, he can look back and say I played on Centre,” Federer, who has earned $90m in prize money compared to the $500,000 banked by Dzumhur, said.
Nadal supporters insist that but for injuries the Spaniard would already have matched Federer’s grand slam haul rather than be three short, but they would struggle to make a case for their man making tennis look as easy as his great rival.
But there were hints yesterday against Bellucci that Nadal is returning to the kind of form that saw him beat Federer in an epic 2008 final and then regain the title in 2010.
“For me the conditions were great,” he said.
“It’s difficult to think about a better day to play tennis here in Wimbledon.”
Bouchard, Halep out
Eugenie Bouchard and Simona Halep were both knocked out in the first round as they became the first big-name casualties of this year’s tournament.
Canadian Bouchard marched through to the 2014 final, where Petra Kvitova denied her the title, but has endured a terrible season on tour and the Wimbledon exit adds to her troubles.
She lost 7-6 (7/3) 6-4 to China’s Duan Ying-Ying on Court Three, sealing her own fate by cracking a forehand into the net.
Halep, semi-finalist at Wimbledon last year, folded from a strong position to lose 5-7 6-4 6-3 against a Slovakian opponent ranked 106th in the world.