The First Day: the daily preview
Welcome to The Championships, the 126th staging of the world's premier tennis tournament, where we have been promised a lull in Britain's summer monsoon weather. Fingers are crossed for a full day's play, one which traditionally begins on Centre Court with the appearance of the defending Gentlemen’s Singles Champion - and will, of course, be certain to take place, given that arena's wonderful umbrella.
So at 1pm precisely Novak Djokovic, the pride of Serbia, will be welcomed onto Centre Court to open the defence of his title. Normally, this is a straightforward procedure. Only once in the era of Open tennis has the defending champion been overthrown here on the first day. It happened in 2003 when Australia's Lleyton Hewitt was blasted out by the towering Croatian, Ivo Karlovic, but there are long odds against a repeat this year.
Drawn to face Djokovic is Juan Carlos Ferrero, a 32-year-old clay-court specialist from Spain who has known glory days of his own by winning the French Open in 2003 and spending a short spell that year as world No.1, but whose grass court memories are not the brightest things in his tennis bag, having never progressed beyond the quarter-finals here in ten appearances.
However, until Rafael Nadal burst on the scene, Ferrero, named by his proud parents in honour of their king Juan Carlos, was the most successful Spaniard of the Open era, having lodged himself in the top five for three straight years. He is known as ‘Mosquito’, principally thanks to his wiry build but also because he is apt to inflict a bite or two on unwary opponents. Be assured, therefore, that Djokovic will pay him the utmost respect, especially since the Serb has descended a little from the outrageous heights of success which he scaled in 2011.
Novak arrived at Wimbledon last summer having lost just one singles match in the first six months. This year he has lost six, one of them the French Open final, while winning 36 and capturing the Australian Open in January. That Paris defeat by Nadal terminated a 27 Grand Slam match-winning-streak and also ended his hopes of possessing all four Grand Slam singles titles at once. Ferrero and Djokovic have met twice previously, winning one match each, but have not played since 2007.
Roger Federer, striving for his seventh Wimbledon title and seeded third, also has Spanish opposition for starters. He faces Albert Ramos, a 24-year-old dentist's son from Barcelona making his Wimbledon debut and ranked 43 in the world, compared to Ferrero's 38. Spain lead the way in men's singles competitors with 14, one more than the French contingent and two ahead of the US, and of course they have the second favourite here in the shape of Nadal, due on court tomorrow and the Wimbledon champion of 2008 and 2010. Federer, because of his stature here, is normally accorded a Centre Court outing but will not be too worried about being scheduled on No.1 Court against someone who should not stretch him unduly.
The Djokovic show on Centre will be followed by an outing for the leading light in the women’s game, Maria Sharapova, the world's richest sportswoman and someone who has hit top form by winning the French Open for the first time and regaining the world No.1 ranking. It was in 2004, as a 17-year-old, that Sharapova won her only previous Wimbledon title. Maria's opponent will be the Russian-born Australian Anastasia Rodionova, incidentally one of 26 "ovas" and two "evas" in the Ladies’ Singles field which of course includes Sharapova herself. Maria has not lost a set in four previous encounters with Rodionova, so her lift-off should prove an untroubled one.
Sharapova is one of five ladies’ Grand Slam champions on view today, the others being Kim Clijsters (three US Opens and one Australian Open), Venus Williams (five Wimbledons and two US Opens), Samantha Stosur (one US Open) and Li Na (one French Open). Belgium's highly-popular Clijsters, seeking a first Wimbledon triumph and frequently battling injury since her comeback in 2009 after two years away from the game, tackles Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, a former world No.1, on No. 1 Court, while Venus, struggling with form and ranking because of Sjogren's syndrome, opens against the Russian Elena Vesnina on No.2 Court.
And finally, for those seeking to follow home hopes, two girls, Naomi Broady and Johanna Konta (born in Sydney of Hungarian parents) are representing Britain on Courts 16 and 17 respectively. Not forgetting Heather Watson, who is to be arranged, not before 5pm.
