The beginning of the first set of Novak Djokovic and Daniel Evans's second-round match at Wimbledon implied that the match might be a close one. Perhaps Evans, in likely his final Wimbledon tournament, would be somewhat of a Cinderella story and surprise the all-time great.
The crowd would have loved that. Evans, after all, is British, and the Brits like to see their own win, just as Aussies do at the Australian Open, the French at their major, and Americans at the US Open. It would have been entertaining for Evans to give the Serb a real battle.
It wasn't going to happen, though. Djokovic got a break late in the first set and took it 6-3. The second set was less close as the Serb was serving with brutal efficiency, and Evans had a difficult time even winning a point, let alone giving himself a chance to break. Djokovic took that set 6-2.
Novak Djokovic makes easy work of Daniel Evans at Wimbledon 2025
Any drama for the third set ended immediately as Djokovic got a break in the first game, and simply had to keep holding serve to take the match and move on to the third round.
Part of Evans's problem is that he was playing an extremely in-form Djokovic, who might have beaten nearly any player in the tournament. Carlos Alcaraz would have had difficulties against the Serb. Djokovic compounded Evans's struggles when the Serb got a second break in the third set to lead 3-0.
By this point, the crowd was fairly quiet, except for the few points Evans won. They had little to cheer for as Djokovic was so dominant. While Evans kept his winners close to the same number of unforced errors, Djokovic finished with 46 winners and just 14 unforced errors. He took the final set 6-0.
It was the kind of tennis that has helped him win 24 Grand Slams, and he is playing well enough to challenge for number 25 at Wimbledon 2025. He will next face fellow Serb Miomir Kecmanovic in the third round on Saturday. The two have faced each other three times, but not once since 2022, and Djokovic has won all three meetings.