GOING into this tournament, the talk was Rafael Nadal versus Roger Federer.

Then came that shocker of an announcement. There was not going to be a Wimbledon double for Nadal. The Spaniard was injured and would play no part in the contest.

Almost at once, the spotlight moved to Andy Murray. British scribes went ga-ga over their poster boy and immediately forced him to pick up the gauntlet dropped by Nadal.

Unofficially, the great Brit hope became Federer's main challenger.

Hey, aren't we forgetting something?

I say, forget the aces. What about the joker in the Wimbledon pack? Novak Djokovic?

Where is he in the equation?

If you scan the draw, you will see that Djokovic is Federer's projected semi-final opponent. Doesn't that mean something?

A semi-finalist himself in 2007, the Serb had an off-day and was an early casualty last year.

But he has that kind of grass game that can be like pepper in Federer's eyes - stinging enough to blind the Swiss master long enough for him to extract some vital points.

Yes, we had better not airbrush him out of the big picture.

Yesterday, Djokovic negotiated a tricky second-round match against Germany's Simon Greul. Trailing from an early break, he turned on the power to win the first 7-5.

But the score didn't do justice to the Serb's dominance. He was, by far, the better player.

And you couldn't help but admire the intensity - even if, at times, his scowl did cast the entire court in a shadow.

Impersonations

Yesterday, Djokovic didn't waste time with impersonations and jokes. He was serious and the German didn't stand a chance.

The Serb, and No. 4 seed, eventually won 7-5, 6-1, 6-4.

On that showing, Djokovic must be said to be hovering under the radar.

Federer may be the man of the moment and Murray may be the blue-eyed boy. But I say, keep Djokovic in sight. He can do plenty of damage to everyone's dreams.

What about Maria Sharapova? We know what's wrong with her. She had a long injury layoff and didn't lift a racket for four months and was on a comeback trail.

A winner here in 2004, her challenge fizzled out yesterday when beaten in three sets by unseeded Gisela Dulko of Argentina 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.

What are we to make of Sharapova? Once upon a time she was a good-looking player playing really good tennis. Now she is just a good-looking player.

Indeed, yesterday she looked like she had used that 10-month injury break to attend goddess classes instead of hitting balls. Her comeback to the top level may not come.

Another woman coming back from a problem past - but is looking good - is the lanky Slovak Daniela Hantuchova.

It looked like 'goodbye London' for her when her Chinese opponent and 16th seed Zheng Jie broke her in the first game of the first set.

But, to her credit, the unseeded Hantuchova dug in, held her nerve and went into overdrive. It paid off handsomely. She beat the Chinese seed 6-3, 7-5.

In my book, that makes her a good-looking player playing good tennis.