NOVAK DJOKOVIC claims it is good for tennis to see big names go out and new faces emerge to challenge for grand slam honours.

The world number one may have felt differently had he joined Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka in exiting Wimbledon this week.

Instead, Djokovic came through his second-round match against Bobby Reynolds 7-6 (7/3) 6-3 6-1 last night under the roof on Centre Court.

A day of injuries and upsets was capped on Wednesday by Federer’s loss to Sergiy Stakhovsky, and Djokovic said: ‘‘It’s sport. This is what happens.

‘‘Stakhovsky yesterday played a fantastic match. It’s something that you should always be cautious about, the potential upsets in the first rounds when you’re trying to get the rhythm on the court and somebody comes out and is feeling the ball really well. ‘‘There is also a huge amount of expectations for the top players always to reach the final stages and predicting the matches. But we cannot forget all the other players who are taking part in this tournament.

‘‘This makes it even more interesting, I think, the fact that in a way it was surprising that so many top players lost in the last few days. We see some new faces and it’s good for the sport.’’ American Reynolds, a qualifier ranked 156th, had not won a main-draw match at a grand slam for nearly five years until coming here, but he earned the affection of the crowd for his dogged resistance, particularly in the first set.

Djokovic converted only four of 18 break points but pulled away after breaking for the first time in the third game of the second set.

The hot topic of conversation on Wednesday was the state of the grass after a number of players sustained injuries slipping over, and Djokovic fell early on this evening.

He said: ‘‘It’s not the first time that you see that many players slipping or falling on the grass because that’s the surface we are playing on.

‘‘With the conditions today, with the roof closed, it was a bit dangerous at the start of the match I thought.

Then after it was really good.’’ Djokovic next faces either 28th seed Jeremy Chardy or Jan-Lennard Struff while Reynolds was the last of the 11 American men to fall, meaning that for the first time in 101 years no US player has reached the third round in the men’s singles.

The weather yesterday took its toll on this year’s championships for the first time.

Steady drizzle began to fall at the All England Club at 3.30pm, but the action staggered on for a further 90 minutes until the covers came on.

Centre Court was able to see out its order of play owing to the roof being closed – Agnieszka Radwanska completed her win over Mathilde Johansson under it before Djokovic took charge.

But other courts were denied a full programme as play was abandoned everywhere else at 7.05pm.

Cheerleading British supporters may have felt a little redundant, but any present on Court Seven had plenty to be excited about.

Jamie Delgado – an All England Club veteran at 36 – teamed up with Australia’s Matthew Ebden in the men’s doubles and they enjoyed a fine success against Lleyton Hewitt and Matthew Knowles.

They took the minimum number of sets to get the job done, going through 6-3 7-5 7- 6 (7/4).