Not for the first time this year, Novak Djokovic struggled for convincing answers at the gate. He just about mumbled enough to get by, though only after a roughing up from a delightfully resilient stranger.
Had you heard of Soonwoo Kwon? Did you know he is the world No 81, and better known at home in Korea for dressing as a car on Masked Singer?
Fine player, it transpires. He strips fuzz off balls with his forehand, he loves a drop shot, and he used both to take Djokovic into deeper water than ever appeared likely when the draw was circulated.
A four-setter meant the tussle concluded with no great drama, certainly compared to other bother Djokovic has brought on himself in 2022. But it was a scrap. And for brief flickers it had potential to be more, particularly when the 24-year-old held a break point at 2-2 in the third, before the top seed got through 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
It remains to be seen where this latest stroll on the lawns takes him, even if the obvious answer is usually the right one when it comes to a man unbeaten here since 2017. But plenty of sludge has passed under the Serbian’s bridge since his third straight Wimbledon title last year, and at the age of 35, with no real grass-court preparation, we do have to wonder where he stands.
The first sightings here pointed to a ropey serve that didn’t get going until the fourth set and a bafflingly high tally of 29 unforced errors. Talking him down is usually an exercise in muddled thinking, and would also overlook his kind draw, but indisputably it was a slow start to his tournament.
It is worth factoring in at this point that there are questions in Djokovic’s homeland about his state of mind, and that is understandable, given the public examination of his life and tennis of late. Once viewed as the most obdurate of opposition on the court, now it is his unwillingness to compromise on vaccinations that is keeping him off it, with the US Open currently as closed to him in the autumn as Australia was in January. Having fallen relatively meekly to Rafael Nadal at the French Open, it is Wimbledon or bust if he is to win a 21st Slam by the end of the year.
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