Djokovic had plenty of answers both on and off the court on Tuesday

LONDON—Factually, No. 1 Court was the setting for a first-round match between three-time Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic and American Tennys Sandgren. Truthfully, this was little more than a compensated, publicly screened practice session. In 93 minutes, Djokovic briskly dismissed Sandgren, 6-3, 6-1, 6-2.

“I thought it was overall quite a solid match,” said Djokovic. “I don't think Tennys has played a great match. I think he made a lot of errors. Just the third set, a couple games he changed up the tactics pretty well. I don't think he was at his best.

“At the same time, you know, I made him play a lot on his service games. I thought I served accurately. Quite swirly conditions. Difficult to play. First match at Wimbledon. You always want to start off well. I've never played him before, so it took a little bit of time to kind of get used to his pace and rhythm.”

WATCH—Match point from Djokovic's win over Sandgren at Wimbledon:

Another telling data point was that while this was Djokovic’s 69th Wimbledon main-draw match, it was Sandgren’s first. Only a fool dared blame him for being nervous—even amid a year of considerable progress. In 2017, Sandgren had lost in the second round of the Wimbledon qualifying, his ranking just after Wimbledon standing at 101 in the world.

Sandgren is now ranked 57th, an ascent aided most of all by a fine run this January to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. To think that last fall, Sandgren’s stature on the tennis ladder was such that, while competing at a Challenger event in Northern California, he was dressed more like a club player, clad in Nike shoes and adidas socks. Today, Sandgren made his way onto Court One in a sleek ASICS outfit. While he is likely not compensated on the scale of Roger Federer’s just-announced $300 million clothing contract, Sandgren’s logo-organized garb certainly signaled an arrival.

Inside the lines, though, Djokovic hastened Sandgren’s departure. In rallies, only the occasional slapped drive, hacked slice or random big serve could gain Sandgren any traction. Djokovic, balanced and newly confident, drove the ball comfortably into one corner after another. Invariably redlining, Sandgren made 35 unforced errors. In comfortable cruising speed throughout, Djokovic committed a scant 17. But if you’re looking into a crystal ball, bare in mind that Sandgren was so overmatched that it was virtually impossible to gauge Djokovic’s form with any predictive accuracy.

Daily Serve—recapping Day 2 at Wimbledon:

Far more detectable was the vehemence with which Djokovic addressed the shot clock that will be overtly present at this year’s US Open.

“I obviously was not happy at all, as all the other players in the players council, for one very simple reason,” he said. “Not because of the shot clock, we could discuss that. It's because we as players are never reached out, never advised. We are not participating in the conversation or decision-making. That's something that is really frustrating, to be honest, from a player perspective.”

Djokovic continued.

“Look, I'm not completely against it. As I said, I feel like they should have reached out to players before they make an official decision, before they announce it, at least to see how players feel about it. By not doing that, they show how respectful they are of us, which is unfortunate.”

Clearly, the actions of tennis officials had caused Djokovic more stress than Sandgren had.

Thursday there would be a match versus 127th-ranked Horacio Zeballos, a lefty who Djokovic had beaten in their only previous meeting, back in Doha in early 2017. Given that Zeballos’ best results have come on clay, it was tough to tell if Zeballos could pose any more questions than Sandgren. But at least today, be it on or off the court, Djokovic had been able to provide his share of answers.

Strokes of Genius is a world-class documentary capturing the historic 13-year rivalry between tennis icons Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. It is timed for release as the anticipation crests with Roger as returning champion, 10 years after their famed 2008 Wimbledon championship – an epic match so close and so reflective of their competitive balance that, in the end, the true winner was the sport itself.

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