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Wimbledon 2013: Roger Federer has bad news for second orund oppenent Sergiy Stakhovsky... he thinks he can get better

 

Wayne Gardiner
Wednesday 26 June 2013 14:02 BST
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Roger Federer has bad news for Sergiy Stakhovsky ahead of their second-round Wimbledon clash today; he thinks he can get better.

Follow game-by-game coverage as Andy Murray attempts to reach the third round with a victory over Yen-Hsun Lu

The seven-time SW19 champion returns to Centre Court today having taken little over an hour to get going against Victor Hanescu on Monday.

With Rafael Nadal already out, the chances of an eighth Swiss win on the London grass are improving and few expect Stakhovsky to get a racquet on the crowd favourite today.

But regardless of what others feel about Federer, he claims he still has work to do.

"Honestly, as a tennis player you can never stop working on something," he said.

"I always believe all your strengths need work and all your weaknesses need work, whatever you might consider that is."

While Federer will walk out onto Wimbledon's main arena, Andy Murray has been slated for an appearance on Court One against Yen-Hsun Lu.

The honour of turning out on Centre goes to last year's semi-finalist, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, as he faces Ernests Gulbis, while Fernando Verdasco against Julien Benneteau will play before Murray on One.

A healthy crowd can be expected on Court Two as Lleyton Hewitt takes on Dustin Brown - the Australian is a popular figure and carries an army of 'Fanatics' around with him.

"It's fantastic to walk out there. I know we have the Fanatic boys in the crowd and they enjoy wins as much as I do. It's good that I can put on a show."

There will also be increased interest on Court 17 as Steve Darcis, the slayer of Nadal, returns to action.

He plays Lukas Kobot for a place in the third round - that would match his best-ever grand slam return - in the final game of the day.

Yesterday saw Novak Djokovic kick off his campaign with a three-set win over Florian Mayer and he knows he has to remain at the top of his game, given what happened to Nadal.

"In the opening rounds it's obviously very dangerous for the top players because on the other side is someone with nothing to lose," he said.

"You cannot take anything for granted. You have to be grateful for being in this position, work even harder and stay there."

Elsewhere there were victories for the likes of David Ferrer and Juan Martin del Potro, while one of the main talking points came after Bernard Tomic saw off Sam Querrey in five sets.

The Australian did so without the help of his dad and coach, John Tomic, who is the subject of a 12-month ban by the ATP, the men's game's governing body.

John Tomic denies assaulting his son's former hitting partner, Thomas Drouert - the case will be heard in court in October - and cannot attend tournaments. In this case, Wimbledon has stopped him from even entering as a spectator.

"I can't blame Wimbledon, it's all the ATP's fault I think and I'm going to keep blaming them. They know I'm not on their side, I'm on my dad's side," Bernard Tomic said.

Follow game-by-game coverage as Andy Murray attempts to reach the third round with a victory over Yen-Hsun Lu

PA

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