NOVAK DJOKOVIC got the defence of his Wimbledon title off to a safe start, beating Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 on Centre Court.

The No.1 seed was not close to his best – but did not have to be, even though his opponent, ranked 33rd in the world, was the highest unseeded player in the men’s singles.

The only thing that threatened to impede the reigning champion’s progress was a small bird which flew on to court during the opening game and kept returning at regular intervals.

But Djokovic took that in his stride as well, and explained after the match that he had chosen to regard it as a good omen.

“Where I come from, from capital of Serbia, there's a special sparrow bird called djivjum,” he said. “I believe this bird came all the way from Belgrade to help me. But I was feeling for its safety honestly.

“At one point Kohlschreiber was serving, the bird landed literally very close to the sideline. She stayed there until I won that point. So I said, ‘Be my guest, stay around, if you want’.

“It was funny to see that. The sparrow bird from Belgrade really stayed for the entire match.”

Djokovic was less able to see the funny side of another intervention - a question at his post-match press conference, when he was again asked about the allegations of illegal on-court coaching that have been levelled against him and his coach, former champion Boris Becker.

“I'm just trying to figure out what you want to achieve with this story,” he said after being questioned about the possible use of hand signals from Becker, or shouts in Serbian from other members of his coaching team.

“Do you want to say I’m cheating, my team? I’m really trying to figure out what’s behind this.

“There are certain ways of communication which is encouragement, which is support, which is understanding the moment when to clap or say something that can lift my energy up, that can kind of motivate me to play a certain point. But it's all within the rules.

“If I am breaking any rules or my team does, I would be fined for that, right? The chair umpire would say, ‘Coaching penalty’, and that's it. Or the supervisor, or whoever.

“I think it has happened in my life, no doubt about that,” he continued, referring to the fact that he has twice been fined for a breach of the rule against coaching from the players’ box during a match.

“Of course, I accept the fact if my coach does say something that is against the rules that, I have no complaint about the code violation that I get for coaching. So, I mean, I'm completely fine by that.”

Kohlschreiber accepted that he had simply been beaten by a better player.

“Honestly I think the only little, little, little chance was when I had the chance to go up a break in the first set,” he said. “I missed quite a good opportunity pretty close.

“After that he was, I think, in his mode. He was winning his service games easier, more chances. Overall I think he played just a better match than I did.”

Djokovic’s next opponent is Jarkko Nieminen, who beat 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt in five sets. Both the Finn and the Australian have said that this will be their last Wimbledon before retiring.