Novak Djokovic cruises into Wimbledon second round after victory over Jordan Thompson  

If stopping oil is the protest of the day then stopping Novak Djokovic is the challenge of the sporting era. Alas, Jordan Thompson was never likely to be the man to disrupt the inevitable.

But at least he gave it a good go. With 21 aces, a modest number of errors and a commitment to dreaming, the world No 70 played one of the matches of his career.

And yet that’s the issue with facing Djokovic – your best will tend to be measured by the respectability of the defeat it achieves. In this case, that meant a commendable 6-3, 7-6, 7-5 loss for the Australian and another of those early-round occasions where Djokovic trundles his way back to familiarity with the grass.

Even in his lower gears, the 23-time Slam winner never faced so much as a single break point against a man who has twice contested Tour-level finals on this surface. In fact, the closest he came to strife or stress was once the match had finished, when he turned to a vocal pocket of Aussie fans on Centre Court and cupped his ear.

Maybe we can return to the old narrative about a great champion who is yet to find love here in quite the way Roger Federer once did. That much is indisputable and valid.

The Serbian hailed his ‘very special, romantic relationship’ with Centre Court

Djokovic will face either Tomas Martin Etcheverry or former grand slam winner Stan Wawrinka 

But it is equally true that such adoration is one of the few items Federer can hold over Djokovic at this point. There is also the matter of his eight Wimbledon titles, but it will take something quite dramatic for Carlos Alcaraz or anyone else to prevent the 36-year-old from levelling that record this fortnight.

‘I don’t know if I wanted to meet Jordan this early in the tournament,’ said Djokovic. ‘It was a great performance by him.’

It was indeed a fine effort, but again, everything is relative, as illustrated by Thompson, 29, appearing to get disorientated on his way into the arena. For Djokovic, unbeaten on that court since 2013, and Wimbledon in general since 2018, it is more like a second home.

‘Centre Court has been the most special court in tennis history,’ he said. ‘I marvel at it every time. This court and I have a very romantic relationship.

‘It is a huge privilege at this age and stage of my career against the young guns. So far so good.’

This match rarely deviated from the trend – Djokovic broke for 4-2 in the first set and never came close to giving up his serve in the numerical tightness of the second.

The tiebreak offered some level of jeopardy, especially with Thompson booming down the aces, but the Australian’s double fault for 3-1 was decisive and Djokovic efficiently closed it out 7-4. The third was also a decent contest, albeit more so on paper, before the world No 1 shifted his level ever so slightly to break for 7-5.

Djokovic will next face the winner of the second-round tie between Stan Wawrinka and Tomás Martín Etcheverry.