New day New luck? Mistake. Dennis Novak, whom the rain saved from the second round of the tennis Grand Slam tournament in Wimbledon on Thursday, was unable to give the continued story a happy ending yesterday. The nightmare was over after 120 seconds, Novak, number 153 in the world, didn’t score a single point in the last game to be played, friend and opponent Jason Kubler (WRL No. 99) from Australia served bone dry to 6: 3, 6 :4, 6:4 off.
Novak seemed to have shot his powder on the “holy turf” in the four previous matches (including qualification), the 28-year-old from Wiener Neustadt allowed himself 42 unforced errors. “Dennis only played well to a limited extent, but you also have to recognize Kubler’s performance. He showed why he was once number one in the juniors,” said Novak’s coach Günter Bresnik about the 29-year-old winner, who is now with the American Jack Sock (WRL No. 103) gets to do.
Novak can console himself with prize money of almost 90,000 euros, a blatant improvement in the world rankings can be ruled out, since no points are awarded in Wimbledon. This is the reaction of international tennis federations to the exclusion of athletes from Russia and Belarus as a result of the Ukraine invasion.
“I didn’t return well at all. Jason was better, but the positive outweighs the negative,” analyzed Novak, who is now traveling to Salzburg for the home challenger that starts on Monday, where the game will be played on sand. Ex-US Open triumphant Dominic Thiem also serves in the city of Mozart.
Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic remains at Wimbledon. The defending champion is now in top form. Yesterday the 35-year-old Serb defeated his compatriot Miomir Kecmanovic 6-0, 6-3, 6-4. “It’s going quite well, I’m satisfied with my performance,” said the 20-time Grand Slam winner after reaching the round of 16.
After the failures of crowd favorites Emma Raducanu and Andy Murray, Heather Watson carries Britain’s hopes for a success story. The number 121 in the world is currently on cloud nine. The 7: 6 (6), 6: 2 victory over Kaja Juvan lifted the 30-year-old into the round of 16. The local hero had never gotten that far at a major event. In 2012 and 2015 the third round ended in London, the same in 2013 in Melbourne. (Alex)
Source: Nachrichten
