A warm welcome to the 129th edition of The Championships, Wimbledon. Offering a new rhythm to our venerable, glorious sporting summer, The Championships have been put back a week to give the competitors three weeks, rather than the usual two following the French Open to hone their game for the most exhilarating fortnight of the year.
Such a break with tradition hardly comes lightly to Wimbledon. You can gather this by appreciating that the last time The Championships began this late in June was in 1896. Better late than beaten up and weary, though, has been the unanimous chorus of approval from the players. The weather's smiling too, apparently.
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The defending Gentlemen's Singles Champion, for one, says he has been happy to savour the extra time to take some "emotional and mental" rest following his defeat in the French Open final. Novak Djokovic has spent his time usefully by playing with his baby, putting out the garbage and buying door handles. Buying them, not fitting them, he admits more sheepishly, which just proves there are things even Superman cannot cope with.
Those handles, though? Will they open the path to further landmarks for the champion seeking a third crown 30 years after his coach Boris Becker won the first of his three as a Tigger-like teenage tyro?
Frankly, Djokovic could not have a harder start after not playing a match in anger since Stan Wawrinka's gale of brilliance blew him away in the Roland Garros final.
He has had a couple of exhibition stretches while his major rivals Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Rafa Nadal have all been collecting hard-earned grass court titles but reminds us happily his previous two triumphs also came with no tournament warm-up.
He better be ready, though, because even he concedes that Philipp Kohlschreiber, with his excellence on grass and that bullet of a single-handed backhand, is "one of the toughest first round matches I could have got". Indeed, in the 2009 French Open, the German became the last player to beat him before the quarter-final stage of a Grand Slam.
It looks a smashing day on Centre Court. Former champion Maria Sharapova, last seen atishoo-ing her way around Court Philippe Chatrier as if it were midwinter in Siberia, says a bit of Californian sunshine was all she needed to feel refreshed for the challenge presented by Johanna Konta, the British No.2 so impressive during recent breakthrough runs to the quarter-finals in both Nottingham and Eastbourne.
Then, Wawrinka is up against Joao Sousa, a Portuguese opponent he dismantled easily enough here last year, on the first step of his bid to join Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, Nadal and Federer as back-to-back French and Wimbledon winners in the Open era.
Serena Williams, though, is homing in on an even more startling milestone, opening up against 20-year-old Russian qualifier Margarita Gasparyan, the world No.113, who will do well to see playing the five-time champion on No.1 Court as a privilege and not an hour in Room 101.
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Williams has been practising at Jack Nicklaus's place in Florida but even the Golden Bear, with his record 18 golf majors, never managed all four in a calendar year. It's still on for Williams but, first, here she is after the "Serena Slam" of holding all four Slams simultaneously.
As we wait patiently for No.3 seed Murray to make his bow on Tuesday, much British interest will centre on his female counterpart Heather Watson, up against France's Caroline Garcia, the 21-year-old who Murray once tipped to become the world's best. They meet on No.2 Court.
And the most heart-warming domestic tale of the day? Liam Broady and his sister Naomi Broady both in action as the first home-based siblings since Buster and Linda Mottram 37 years ago to compete in the singles. The pair hail from the home of Britain's greatest player. So, look closely and you might even see Fred Perry's statue break into a smile.
