Top seed Novak Djokovic overcame a dogged challenge from 81st-ranked Korean Kwon Soon-woo and his own grasscourt rustiness to reach the Wimbledon second round with a 6-4 3-6 6-3 6-4 victory.
Novak Djokovic Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The defending champion, bidding for his fourth Wimbledon title in a row and his seventh overall, looked out-of-sorts at times against Kwon, who brought a lively mixture of tennis, from booming forehands to delicate drop-shots, onto Centre Court.
Djokovic had not played a grasscourt warm-up tournament and he admitted that did not help his game against a tough opponent, 11 years his junior.
But the Serb, aiming to win a 21st Grand Slam title, recovered enough of his trademark consistency to see off the challenge.
It was Djokovic's 80th Wimbledon win and he became the only man to have won 80 matches at all four Grand Slam tournaments.
The Serb, who won three Grand Slams last year, missed out the Australian Open in January after being deported because he was not vaccinated against COVID-19.
He lost in the French Open quarter-finals to eventual champion Rafa Nadal who is seeded second at Wimbledon.
Norwegian third seed Casper Ruud registered his maiden Wimbledon victory in his third main-draw appearance when he saw off experienced Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas 7-6(1) 7-6(9) 6-2.
French Open runner-up Ruud failed to get past the opening hurdle in 2019 and 2021 and arrived at this year's grasscourt Grand Slam following a first-round loss at Queen's to world number 180 Ryan Peniston.
Britain's teenage U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu lived up to her star billing on her first appearance on Wimbledon's Centre Court by beating in-form Belgian Alison van Uytvanck 6-4 6-4 in the first round.
Emma Raducanu Photo: PHOTOSPORT
A year ago Raducanu reached the fourth round as an unknown wildcard before going on to win the U.S. Open against impossible odds, but this time the 10th seed carried the hopes of a nation who have not seen a home women's champion since Virginia Wade in 1977.
Former finalist Marin Cilic has pulled out of the tournament after testing positive for COVID-19.
The 33-year-old Croatian, who won the U.S. Open in 2014, reached the final of the grasscourt Grand Slam five years ago when he lost to Roger Federer.
Cilic, who had been seeded 14th, came to Wimbledon in strong form, having reached the semi-finals at the French Open and also making the last four of the ATP 500 tournament on grass at Queen's this month.
He wil be replaced by lucky loser Nuno Borges of Portugal in the men's singles draw.
Meanwhile Briton Jodie Burrage earned praise for helping out a distressed ball boy as she suffered a second successive first-round exit at Wimbledon.
Wildcard Burrage, comprehensively beaten 6-2 6-3 by Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko, reacted quickly at the start of the second set when the ball boy became unwell.
"He just said he was feeling really faint. He couldn't actually really talk. It was quite distressing to see," 23-year-old Burrage said.
Burrage thought the young lad, one of 250 ball boys and girls from local schools rigorously trained for the tournament, had suffered a panic attack.
-Reuters
