Wimbledon 2022: 3 things that stood out in Novak Djokovic's 1R win over Soonwoo Kwon

Top seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia beat Soon Woo Kwon 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of the Wimbledon Championships on Monday. The match lasted for two-and-a-half-hours and the 35-year-old Serb was down a break in the first set and lost the second before pulling off the comeback.

However, the 24-year-old Korean gave a good account of himself in the match and did not give up without a fight.

On that note, let’s take a look at three factors that stood out from the match:

#1 Novak Djokovic made a jittery start, but recovered well to win the first set:

Djokovic had a shaky start and got broken in the third game of the first set. Kwon then held his serve to extend his lead to 3-1 but Djokovic fought back to win five consecutive games by breaking the Korean twice.

Kwon hit some big first serves regularly and also played his shots deep into the court in the first set. He also managed to hit through Djokovic on a number of occasions with his powerful forehand. Djokovic, meanwhile, kept playing his backhand slices regularly to take the pace off the ball and also induce the Korean to play the subsequent shot higher.

However, the Korean was not very comfortable moving laterally across the baseline in the first set and Djokovic took advantage of that. He moved Kwon from side to side as the Korean started leaking unforced errors, especially on the backhand wing.

#2 Soon Woo Kwon made a memorable comeback to win the second set as Djokovic became error-prone:

Soonwoo Kwon gave a good account of himself with his powerful first serve and forehand

Kwon once again made a very good start to the second set by breaking the Serbian in the fourth game. He then held his serve to go 4-1 ahead. Djokovic managed to hold serve for the remainder of the second set, but so did Kwon, saving three break points in the fifth game and taking the set 6-3.

The Korean moved better laterally and defended a lot better in the second set, staying in points for a longer period of time, leading Djokovic to commit more unforced errors.

Novak Djokovic committed nine unforced errors in the second set, with seven of them coming off his backhand. His first-serve ratio was also a modest 58% in the second set as Kwon succeeded in making a comeback against the top seed.

#3 Novak Djokovic held his nerve to grind out the third and fourth sets:

Both players held their respective serves for the first seven games of the third set, but Djokovic then got a much-needed break in the eighth game to lead 5-3 and the Serb then served out the third set to take a crucial two-sets-to-one lead in the match.

The same pattern was repeated in the fourth set as well, as Djokovic again got the elusive break in the fifth game and won the set and match comfortably.

Djokovic played the angles really well from the third set onwards and hit quite a few winners off his forehand. Kwon, meanwhile, kept moving reasonably well, but was too reliant on his first serve and big forehand to trouble Djokovic much.

Novak Djokovic’s first serve ratio improved in the third and fourth sets and remained at 61% at the end of the match. However, Djokovic’s first serve was lethal when it landed right and finished the match with 15 aces and 31 winners.