Nadal points to Rosol's quality

Rafael Nadal revisits his worst Wimbledon nightmare on Thursday when he tackles Czech player Lukas Rosol in the second round.

The champion of 2008 and 2010 suffered a harrowing five-set defeat at the hands of Rosol, then the world number 100, at this stage two years ago.

Nadal earned a narrow win over Rosol in Doha earlier this year, but this time the Centre Court scene will feel familiar to both men and bring back wildly contrasting memories.

Revenge will not be far from Nadal’s mind.

“I lost because he’s a good player. He’s a player that can play very well on this surface,” Nadal said.

“He’s an aggressive player. It will be a tough match again. I know if I want to have chances to win, I need to play very well. That’s what I’m going to try to do. If not, I won’t have chances to be in the third round. But I’m going to fight for it.”

Later in the day on the principal show court, Roger Federer will tackle Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller.

Federer has won all three of their past meetings without dropping a set, and although the pair have not played since 2008 anything but a continuation in the theme of their previous matches would be a surprise.

Certainly both Nadal and Federer will hope to follow the path Andy Murray took to the third round, rather than Novak Djokovic’s roundabout route.

Murray, in the second match of his title defence, dropped just two games in an imperious dismissal of Slovenian Blaz Rola on Court One on Wednesday.

The Scot needed just one hour and 24 minutes to send world number 92 Rola packing, a 6-1 6-1 6-0 victim of a ruthless display.

“You’re going to get tested during the tournament. Sometimes that happens in the first round, and sometimes it can happen in semi-finals,” Murray said. “It can happen at any moment in the tournament. You just have to be ready for it and expect it before every single match.

“I’m happy to come through matches as quickly as possible. Obviously the further you go in the draw, the tougher the matches are going to get.”

Djokovic had a first-round stroll on Monday but his second match proved to be one of the challenging tussles that Murray warned are lurking at Wimbledon.

The Serbian had to dig deep into his reserves to fend off a determined Radek Stepanek on Centre Court.

Victory against Murray at Queen’s Club two weeks ago marked out 35-year-old Stepanek as a player in form on grass, and Djokovic only squeezed through in the end, 6-4 6-3 6-7 (5/7) 7-6 (7/5).

“I’m officially in the tournament now,” Djokovic said. “It was a tough draw, very early in the tournament. I managed to survive. I served very well. This is a part of my game that I’m happy about. There are certain parts that I’m not so happy about.”

Grigor Dimitrov had a more comfortable ride. Making his Centre Court debut, the number 11 seed enjoyed a 6-3 6-2 6-4 triumph over Australian Luke Saville.