The spectre of physio tape reared its head once more for the quiet and unassuming Kei Nishikori as he bowed out before even striking a ball in his second-round match. Nishikori handed Santiago Giraldo a walkover into the third round.

As a result, defending champion Novak Djokovic’s draw for the quarterfinals split wide open, and given the good weather in the UK, he will be happy if he can keep his court time to an absolute minimum.

Of course, we had the predictable shock and awe early in Djokovic’s second-round match as Tour veteran Jarkko Nieminen, playing his last Wimbledon, made a stir as he broke Djokovic in the first game. Predictably, he was broken back a little later, and of course normal order was restored in the first set. It did take Djokovic three set points to close out the second set before sealing the lid on Nieminen’s final appearance.

Earlier this year, Andy Murray spoke of what it was like as a teenager joining the tour, and how the newest addition to his coaching team, Jonas Bjorkman, used to make him feel welcome. The same seemed to be true for Djokovic with regard to Nieminen.

The Serb said, “When I was coming into professional tennis as an 18-year-old, I was playing some challenger in Helsinki in Finland. That's where I met him the first time. Ever since then, he's been very kind to me. He's one of the nicest guys on the tour that I know on the court and off the court.

 “Just out of respect. There are these moments. In the present moment, maybe you are not aware how important it is, it's a milestone for him, it's his last match in Wimbledon. I'm sure he wanted to enjoy it a little bit. So he deserved the ovation.”

Next up for Djokovic will be the head of the latest crop of Aussies, Bernard Tomic. Where once it seemed as though he had turned a corner with his hell-raising days (in part with the ban placed on his father by the ATP for a period of time), things seem to be returning to the status quo for Tomic. He seemed to struggle more than the excitable Europeans with the sun, complaining of feeling dizzy, on his way to a straight-sets win over Pierre-Hugues Herbert.

His compatriot Nick Kyrgios, last year the darling of the perfectly crafted soundbite, was giving rise to a few bites of his own, getting uppity with lines-judges and umpires and altogether making himself almost vegemite-like to the watching public. He will meet Milos Raonic in the next round, in a battle of compression sleeves.

There was also safe passage for French Open champion Stan Wawrinka, who eased past Victor Estrella Burgos 6-3 6-4 7-5. The Dominican seemed to warm up as the match wore on, but to no avail as Wawrinka sets up a third-round encounter with the tricky Fernando Verdasco.

The loaded second half of the draw whirs back into life on Thursday with Andy Murray facing Robin Haase and taking his turn out in the boonies of Court No. 1. Ticket holders on Centre had best purchase those fetching cushions as they will have Roger Federer followed by Rafael Nadal.