Wimbledon 2022 results: Thanasi Kokkinakis wins, Nick Kyrgios wary of British wildcard Paul Jubb

Australian tennis star Thanasi Kokkinakis was so thrilled with a maiden first round Wimbledon triumph that he had to ask the umpire if he had remembered to shake hands.

Thanasi Kokkinakis plays a forehand during his straights sets victory over Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak in Wimbledon’s first round. Picture: Getty Images

Australian tennis star Thanasi Kokkinakis was so thrilled with his maiden first round Wimbledon triumph overnight (AEST) that he had to ask the umpire if he had remembered to shake hands.

Kokkinakis’s strong serve and smooth movement around the court set the scene for the straight sets 7-6, 6-2, 7-5 victory against fellow 26-year-old against Kamil Majchrzak, a Polish serve and volley player – and it was a welcome win at SW19, where the Adelaide player had previously failed to get beyond the first round. This victory on grass follows a quarter-final appearance on clay in Geneva, a grand slam doubles win at the Australian Open when teaming up with Nick Kyrgios and a climb up the world rankings to no.79 after struggling with injuries in previous years.

Kokkinakis sets a date with Djokovic! 🤙🇦🇺#StanSportAU#Wimbledonpic.twitter.com/Vldt2iRJOb

— Stan Sport (@StanSportAU) June 27, 2022

Pumped by a small cohort of Australian fans who had braved some early rain squalls on court 16, Kokkinakis smashed his racquet on the net, waved to family and friends, handed out his water bottles and then packed his Tesco bag of bananas into his sports bag before fretting that he had breached tennis etiquette.

“Did we shake hands? Yyes?,” he rushed to ask the umpire before being reassured that he had.

Kokkinakis will now face the player he describes as a “brick wall”, top seed Novak Djokovic.

“Novak, the thing that separates him is he moves so well, especially on the grass as well,’’ said Kokkinakis, who admitted the match-up was already in the back of his mind during Monday’s opener.

“That’s, for me, the biggest challenge on grass. It feels like he slides out there and he can cover sort of defensive balls on grass that not many people can. I’m going to have to hit one, two, three, four, five, which almost normally would be winners against other players to just kind of have a chance of winning the point.”

80th @Wimbledon match win for @DjokerNole! 💪

The defending champ takes out Kwon 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.@Wimbledon | #Wimbledonpic.twitter.com/BjjDmJiehP

— ATP Tour (@atptour) June 27, 2022

Kokkinakis has only played Djokovic once before in the early rounds of the French Open seven years ago.

“Grass is a surface that I haven’t been too comfortable with in the past. But, yeah, I felt pretty great out there today. It’s obviously going to be a really tough challenge. He’s won the last how many years? Yeah, I’m probably not the favourite, let’s put it that way.

“It’s going to be good fun out there and I’m going to swing free hopefully and play my game. He’s a brick wall, so you kind of got to beat him. He’s not going to beat himself. So that’s going to be fun.”

"Let's get to 100!"

A buoyant @DjokerNole reacts to his latest #Wimbledon victory #CentreCourt100pic.twitter.com/JwfjRhmvAc

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) June 27, 2022

Kokkinakis was the sole Australian male winner on day one of the championships, with Max Purcell falling in a five-set thriller to France’s Adrian Mannarino (3-6, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 4-6) and John Millman losing to 25th-seeded Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic (3-6, 6-2, 3-6, 4-6).

On centre court, a frustrated James Duckworth stretched hometown favourite Andy Murray to four sets, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

Duckworth caused some consternation among the Wimbledon set, taking the first set with body-accurate serves. Was this to be a big upset?

Murray, the two-time Wimbledon victor, even deployed a rare under-arm serve – more known as a tactic of Australian Nick Kyrgios – to get back into the match. With Duckworth standing well behind the baseline during the third set, Murray batted the slow underarm but erred in the delivery, allowing Duckworth to get his racquet on the ball. The crowd went wild as Murray managed to save the point, and his face, with a lob and winning smash.

🙌 Andy Murray's cheeky underarm serve paid off during his fine victory at #Wimbledonpic.twitter.com/6Wl9rCpL3I

— Sporting Life 🎯🔴🎾⛳️🥊🏏🏉 🏈 (@SportingLifeFC) June 27, 2022

Said BBC commentator John McEnroe: “Is this Kyrgios or Murray? I don’t think I have ever seen that from Murray. Wow.”

Duckworth, who had most recently recovered from hip surgery, kept asking for the centre court roof to be closed as the light was fading.

At one point he told the umpire that if Murray was requesting the roof, it would be done immediately.

After his victory, Murray said that while Duckworth was playing very well, he felt more comfortable as the match went on.

“It is an amazing atmosphere.. I am getting on a bit now, I don’t know how many more opportunities I will have on this court,’’ he said.

Giving it all on the court! 🙌@andy_murray achieves his 60th win at #Wimbledon after defeating James Duckworth 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 👏

📹: @Wimbledonpic.twitter.com/jq7rsSqDtA

— ATP Tour (@atptour) June 27, 2022

Earlier, Kokkinakis’ good friend Kyrgios said he was particularly wary of his first round opponent, wildcard British player Paul Jubb, who he’ll meet tonight (AEST).

Expecting to be wearing a “villain hat”, Kyrgios said: “I was once that kid that got a wildcard at the Australian Open. I know how he’s going to be feeling. He’s going to go out there and he’s going to just play freely, nothing to lose.

“Being in that position, I loved it. I was an underdog every time I walked out there. I had no pressure. So I know it’s going to be a dangerous match. It’s not always easy to be the favourite and just sweep aside someone. Never. I’ve had matches like that and it hasn’t gone well.”

Kyrgios added he had to stay focused with the local support swimming behind Jubb: “I’m used to wearing that kind of black hat, the villain-type role. I’m going to embrace it.”

Kyrgios, 27, has already gotten off-side with Wimbledon officials for his refusal to support their blanket ban of Russian and Belarusian players from this year’s tournament due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“I don’t think it was a good idea to ban the Russian players to play. I think Medvedev is the best we have in our sport right now,” he said.

“You look at some of their other players – Rublev, Khachanov – they’re important young players for our sport to continue to grow.”

All England club chairman Ian Hewitt said the ban was to ensure the protection of players and their families as well as refusing to allow Russia any kind of propaganda opportunities, particularly as the Duchess of Cambridge was to present the winner’s trophy.

“It was very important to us that Wimbledon, given the profile that we have, should not be used in any way by the propaganda machine which we know the Russian government employs in relation to its own people and how their position in the world is presented. We just would not countenance Wimbledon success or participation in Wimbledon being misused in that way,’’ Hewitt told ESPN.

Tonight, Australia’s top-ranked male Alex de Minaur, the 19th seed, will play unseeded Bolivian Hugo Dellien, while Jordan Thompson faces Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena.

In women’s singles, Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic faces a tough first round against Swiss 18th seed Jill Teichmann, while Daria Saville plays Bulgaria’s Viktoriya Tomova, Zoe Hives plays fifth-seeded Greek Maria Sakkari and Jaimee Fourlis plays Belgian Kirsten Flipkens.