Nadal and Djokovic through at Wimbledon, injured Thiem out

Former champions Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic made winning starts to their Wimbledon campaigns on Tuesday, but seventh seed Dominic Thiem paid the price for his exhausting schedule.

The Austrian, who lost to Nadal in last month’s French Open final, retired when trailing Marcos Baghdatis 6-4 7-5 2-0 on Court No.1.

Thiem required treatment to his back after losing the second set and called it a day two games later.

REPORT: Kvitova and Sharapova beaten on day two

It was the 24-year-old’s 47th match of the season, and he later admitted that playing the warm-up event in Halle had been “a mistake” after such a busy clay-court season.

Nadal knows more than most about careful scheduling after a succession of injuries over the years, and he returned to action for the first time since Roland Garros with a 6-3 6-3 6-2 win over Israel’s Dudi Sela on Centre Court.

A sad sight to see as @rolandgarros finalist Dominic Thiem retires through injury, with Marcos Baghdatis progressing to the second round of #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/igO4Kb4KD8

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 3, 2018

“I had a long clay-court season, a lot of matches,” said the 32-year-old.

“As you know, I had lot of problems in terms of physical injuries during my career. Of course, I will love to play Queen’s. That was my schedule agenda.

“But after playing the final of Roland Garros and playing so many matches on clay, for my knees, the drastic changes are not good. So we decided to stop couple of days, then to start step by step on grass.”

It is seven years since the Spaniard last reached the final, and eight years since the second of his two Wimbledon triumphs.

He next faces Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin, the world No.77.

Djokovic continues to work his way back to form after his own injury problems, with surgery required on his elbow in February.

A run to the final at Queen’s as a wildcard two weeks ago gave encouragement and he swept aside American Tennys Sandgren 6-3 6-1 6-2 on Court No.1.

Changes to his service technique and racquet specification appear to be helping as he manages his elbow through matches.

“I tried to always use my serve accurately and create a better position for the first shot in the rally, trying to put myself in a tactically good position,” said the Serb.

“I always went for precision rather than power, when it comes to serve.

“I think with that new racquet, that helps me create more of angles. I’m pretty happy with how I’m serving at the moment.”

Djokovic goes on to play world No.126 Horacio Zeballos in round two.

Fourth seed Alexander Zverev and fifth seed Juan Martin del Potro and both came through in straight sets, while 16th seed Nick Kyrgios and 25th seed Kei Nishikori needed four sets apiece.

Australia’s Matt Ebden caused a shock with a comfortable 6-4 6-3 6-4 win over Belgian 10th seed David Goffin.