Djokovic issues Wimbledon warning

The World No. 1 is looking to add a third Wimbledon trophy to his growing list of tennis’ accolades, which would equal his coach Boris Becker’s Wimbledon wins. He stripped down during his warmup game at Wimbledon 2015, sending the crowd wild.

Turns out Maria Sharapova’s ball skills don’t extend far outside the tennis courts. Asked if she was any good at the Italian game, Sharapova responded: “Terrible”.

“I was starting to get dizzy out there with the heat hitting me…”

“I was actually talking about that in the locker room”, he said. “I think Ricardas was playing extremely well”.

The third set was a war, and it looked like Watson was about to pull off a major upset.

Nishikori was not the only one needing medical attention on day three of the championships as a ballboy had to be wheeled off Court 17 after collapsing during American John Isner’s 6-2 7-6(8) 6-4 win over Australian Matthew Ebden.

Meanwhile two New Zealanders have won their first round men’s doubles matches at Wimbledon. She will have to face her older sister Venus in the quarterfinals.

In the women’s section, World No. 1 Serena Williams survived a scare against Brit Heather Watson. Then came an epic, 18-point game that began Williams’ comeback. Sharapova will take on Zarina Diyas, who beat Andrea Petkovic 7-5, 6-4.

Defending champion Novak Djokovic made short work of Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen on a day when the temperature hit 41.2C on Centre Court at Wimbledon. A male fan caught it and handed it back to him.

Djokovic, who also beat Nieminen at last month’s French Open, will play Australia’s number 27 seed Bernard Tomic in round three.

Any danger that Brown’s victory would spark an uprising was swiftly quashed as Djokovic turned executioner to dispatch a beleaguered Bernard Tomic 6-3 6-3 6-3 and Sharapova polished off Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu.

He joins No. 3 Stan Wawrinka in the fourth round, who advanced with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 win over Fernando Verdasco.

It took only an hour.

So commanding was Djokovic’s performance that the usually vocal Fanatics – who follow the Australian players around Wimbledon – appeared to have lost their voices in the opening two sets.

It allows a 10-minute break to be taken between the second and third set when the heat stress index is at or above 30.1 degrees Celsius.

As always, Kyrgios put on quite a show along the way. Two of the four that have managed that feat are playing at Wimbledon, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. He will now play Richard Gasquet in the fourth round.

The French Open champion strolled off court after a volleyed put-away clinched victory in an hour and 31 minutes.

Djokovic’s successful Hawk-Eye challenge staved off a break after he battled from 0-40 down at the start of what proved to be the final set, in which a solitary break proved decisive.

In other matches, American Steve Johnson lost 7-6 (8) 6-2 7-6 (2) in a tussle against 2014 semifinalist Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria; and Canada’s Milos Raonic defeated Tommy Haas. In the 2010 three-day match against Mahut, Isner fired 113 aces, one of many Wimbledon records broken over the duration of the longest tennis match in history.

Even for an Australian, the heat at Wimbledon on Wednesday was hard to deal with.

Raonic and Kyrgios, the one wearing a single white sleeve on his left arm, and the other one on the right, made for a study in contrasts. However, he had to turn it inside out after it was apparently deemed too colorful for the tournament’s all-white dress code. It was the Finn’s final appearance at the All England tournament.

That sets up a shot at Belgian David Goffin next, and Wawrinka said: “It’s great, for sure, to be in the second week”.

Prediction: Kyrgios will serve his way to a four-set win. Maybe it looks like I haven’t been tested but I have.