JAMES Ward held his arms aloft to receive the adulation of the Centre Court crowd, then urged them to cheer even louder. The only problem was that he hadn't won the tournament, the match, or even the set. Instead, 41 minutes of play had elapsed and, serving at 6-0, 3-0 down, he had just captured his first game of the championships. Up at the other end, defending champion Novak Djokovic looked mildly displeased about it all.

Ward never did win the tournament, the match or even the set. But that moment kicked off an anarchic half hour at SW19 as the Englishman rediscovered his instincts, particularly his serve, and suddenly the Serb's face, as they say up the road in Scotland, was tripping him. For an instant, the all conquering World No 1 almost appeared, as one member of the Centre Court crowd had cheerfully exclaimed, 'only human'.

A friendly net cord helped Ward break the Djokovic serve in the very next game, and when the Englishman chased down a volley to send a perfect running forehand down the line, he had taken three games on the spin. Another welcoming bounce off the net would help set up three additional unclaimed chances to break the the Djokovic serve at 5-5 before we were into a second set tie-break.

"For sure [I thought I had him ruffled]," said Ward. "You saw him missing some balls there that he didn't miss for the rest of the match. He is one of the greatest of all time. But everyone is human. Getting the crowd a bit more involved, maybe he's a bit more upset. He wants to play how he played in the first set. Suddenly it's a bit of a different ballgame. He's not going to enjoy it as much."

One of the few men in the sport blessed with the same wiry body shape as his opponent, Ward was playing for himself, his country and also his countryman - he knew Andy Murray was a likely beneficiary the longer he could soften him up - but Djokovic has won 200 tie-breaks in his career to Ward's 13 so perhaps it was inevitable that the Serb's game should hang together best under strain. One errant Ward backhand too many and the breaker was his by a 7-3 margin. While he continued to keep his opponent honest in the third set - by the end he had detained him for more than two hours - an early break of serve did the damage and Ward had the familiar sensation for an Arsenal fan of ending up with plaudits but little else to show for his endeavours.

The son of a Hackney cab driver, Ward's version of the Knowledge yesterday was the rudimentary chat on tactics which he had had beforehand with Murray. But considering that he was on a seven-match losing streak, having struggled on the tour since the death of his coach Darren Tandy to cancer, this was hardly the assignment Ward would have chosen. The Serb had won 78 of the 84 tour level matches he had played since leaving here with the trophy last year. The Englishman, a friend of Arsenal stars like Kieran Gibbs and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, hadn't won any. No wonder then that his reaction to the draw was mainly hoping in vain that perhaps it was his namesake Alex whose name had been pulled out beside Djokovic's.

A decade had passed since Djokovic last lost in the first round of any major championships, the 2006 Australian Open. While he has been stopped from using his bicycle on the All England Club grounds for health and safety reasons, he was determined not to be prevented from making a fast start. The Serb, declining as usual the necessity to entertain a grass court warm-up event, was first to serve, sending down two aces as a statement of intent. Warm cheers rose in the SW19 air as Ward ventured out to riposte, only for two double faults to immediately leave him break point down. Groans followed when a perfect Djokovic forehand confirmed the break of serve.

The first sign of chinks in the Djokovic armour arrived with four break back points for Ward in the third game - "Come on James, He's overrated," one observer in the crowd optimistically suggested - but the Englishman was unable to capitalise. The set ended in the worst way for Ward, a double fault which gave it to Djokovic on a bagel. At that point it seemed like this one might get seriously messy. But while ultimately it was still Taxi for Ward last night, the Englishman, one of the few Leave voters prepared to put their heads above the parapet down here, was allowed to take his leave of the All England Club with his head held high.