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A18 SPORTS
Thursday 29 June 2017
Djokovic wins at Eastbourne, downplays Wimbledon chances

EASTBOURNE, England (AP) 4, he was seeded at No.
— Novak Djokovic down- 2 by the All England Club
played his chances of cap- on Wednesday because
turing a fourth Wimbledon of his good recent results
title after winning his first at Wimbledon. He won the
match on grass this year title there in 2011, ‘14 and
at the Eastbourne Interna- ‘15.
tional on Wednesday. “Whether it helps or not, I
Djokovic beat Vasek Pospi- can’t say at the moment,”
sil 6-4, 6-3 in a second- Djokovic said.
round match that was car- The match against Pospisil
ried over from Tuesday be- was his first since a straight-
cause of rain, setting up a set loss to Dominic Thiem
quarterfinal match against in the French Open quar-
Donald Young at the Wim- terfinals three weeks ago.
bledon warm-up event. He accepted a wild card
The top-seeded Djokovic invitation by Eastbourne
broke Pospisil’s serve once organizers and is playing a
in each set in a comfort- grass-court event between
able 85-minute victory, the French Open and
which wasn’t enough to Wimbledon for the first time
persuade the former No. 1 since 2010.
that he would be among Djokovic resumed 1-0
the favorites for Wimble- Serbia’s Novak Djokovic plays a return to Canada’s Vasek Pospisil during their round of 16 match ahead after managing to
don. on day five of the AEGON International tennis tournament at Devonshire Park, Eastbourne, Eng- play only 13 points on Tues-
“It is liberating a bit,” said land, Wednesday June 28, 2017. Associated Press day, and didn’t lose his
Djokovic, who has had an serve.
inconsistent last 12 months, “I was very fortunate and tered most of the tourna- the top favorites. “I felt good on the court,
during which he has relin- privileged to have so much ments as one of the biggest “It releases a bit of the pres- considering it was my
quished all his Grand Slam success in the last eight, favorites. So for a change, sure.” first grass-court match,”
titles. nine years, and kind of en- it’s good to not be one of Despite being ranked No. Djokovic said.q