Inside a minute, Novak Djokovic indicated that all was well in his grass court universe again.
Excellent news for the Serbian and his ambitions of winning an eighth Wimbledon title and a 25th Grand Slam this Fortnight; rough news for Dan Evans and anyone else in the draw trying to repel greatness.
This was a golden first minute for Djokovic. That was how long it took him to win the opening service game of his second round match against Evans.
In those first 60 seconds, Djokovic demonstrated he was feeling much better after his physical issues on Tuesday against France’s Alexandre Muller when he had a stomach bug, felt weird and needed a doctor’s “miracle pills” to get through.
While always fun to watch – especially when the British wild card was hitting his old-school backhand slices that were keeping low through the grass – there wasn’t much jeopardy here in a match that finished with a bagel set and a 6-3, 6-2, 6-0 win for Djokovic.
A minute in and many in the crowd would have had a very good idea of how this was going to end, with Djokovic advancing into the last 32 for the 19th time, which is a record.
As Djokovic noted, he has been in the third round of Wimbledon almost as many years as Carlos Alcaraz (22) and Jannik Sinner (23) have been alive.
“Dan can cause you a lot of trouble if you’re not on top of your game, which I thought I was from the very beginning,” the 38-year-old said of a performance that took him to 99 match wins at Wimbledon.
“You have those days when everything goes your way and everything flows. It’s good to be in the shoes and holding a racket on a day like this.”
As a young boy, Wimbledon was the Grand Slam that Djokovic wanted to win above all others (and he made a pretend trophy from bits of plastic and scraps of paper).
As he told the crowd, Wimbledon still has “a special place in my heart”, and he has his mind on “the big things” he can achieve at this summer’s Championships.
Winning another singles trophy here would put him level with Roger Federer on eight while moving him ahead of Margaret Court's overall total of 24 Grand Slam singles titles. Djokovic could also become the oldest man in the Open era to win a Grand Slam singles title.
Evans and Djokovic only play tennis in gorgeous settings. Their first match was four years ago at the Monte Carlo Country Club, where the blood-orange clay courts are set between the limestone cliffs and the shimmering, turquoise Mediterranean.
Evans won that day in straight sets but when they played again amid the greenery of Centre Court – the most elegant arena of all – it was a very different story.
Djokovic had never lost a Grand Slam match to an opponent ranked outside the world’s top 150, and he wasn’t about to start here when he has so much he wants to accomplish.
Does Djokovic ever pause to reflect on how much he has achieved over the course of his career? Evidently not. There’s no time at the moment, he told the crowd, because of the dedication and commitment required to operate at the highest level of tennis.
The time to reflect will be after he has put down the racket, when he is sitting on the beach with Federer and Rafael Nadal drinking margaritas and looking back over the golden age of the Big Three.
That era is over – with this the first Wimbledon since Nadal joined Federer in retirement – but Djokovic just keeps on rolling.