On the opening day at Wimbledon — the granddaddy of tennis tournaments — three grand slam winners at very different stages of their career featured at the sport’s most famous stadium.
As per tradition, the defending men’s champion was the first to walk onto center court. Novak Djokovic is also the world’s top-ranked player, but even that doesn’t do him justice.
At 29, the Serb is in his prime after becoming only the third man to hold all four grand slams at once, a feat he achieved by grinding his way to the French Open title three weeks ago.
He was followed by Garbine Muguruza, who also triumphed at soggy and unseasonably cold Roland Garros. The Spaniard opened her grand slam account on the red clay, with the expectation of further prestigious titles to come the 22-year-old’s way.
Last — but by no means least — was Roger Federer.
While Federer has long led the men with 17 grand slams — a record seven of them coming at the All England Club — the outlook for the Swiss isn’t nearly as promising, which is only to be expected given his advanced years in tennis terms.
He turns 35 in August, hasn’t won a major for four years and lacks match practice, having skipped the French Open in the aftermath of a back injury which hampered an already interrupted campaign.
All three progressed to the second round Monday in spring — not summer — conditions that are expected to persist at Wimbledon for the entire fortnight. Some forecasts suggest topping the 20C (68F) mark will be difficult, and a fair bit of rain is expected.
At least, though, Wimbledon has a roof, unlike the French Open.
Djokovic’s outing against British wildcard James Ward was almost perfect for the twice defending champion: He struck plenty of balls — no bad thing considering his dearth of grass-court tussles once again heading into Wimbledon — and was tested late in the second set, but prevailed in straight sets 6-0 7-6 (7-3) 6-4.
When Djokovic stormed to a 6-0 3-0 advantage, the threat of a triple bagel — 6-0 6-0 6-0 — loomed.
Ward, however, rallied for 3-3 with a combination of power and finesse, even holding three break points at 5-5. Djokovic saved them all and cruised in the tiebreak against the world No. 177, ending the brief sequence of suspense.
Of the trio, Muguruza’s first-round foe, Camila Giorgi, was always destined to be the trickiest. One of the game’s hardest, flattest hitters, the restrained Italian’s lone title came on grass one year ago.
“Plan B” doesn’t exist for the 67th-ranked Giorgi but when her go-for-broke style is functioning, she barely needs one. Giorgi was at her booming best in the second set but couldn’t maintain the momentum and fell 6-2 5-7 6-4 as Italy and Spain simultaneously faced off at football’s European Championships across the Channel in France. Italy prevailed 2-0, which might have lightened Giorgi’s mood.
Giorgi was unable to recover from being broken in a five-deuce game at 1-1 in the decider.
A considerable hurdle was thus overcome by Muguruza, since first-time grand slam champions in the past five years on the women’s tour have struggled in their next major. Her second-round opponent, qualifier Jana Cepelova of Slovakia, wouldn’t appear to be as dangerous.
Federer tested
Federer — upset this month at a pair of tournaments in Germany — contested his first grand slam match since exiting to Djokovic in the Australian Open semifinals. The rust was evident against Argentina’s Guido Pella, who had never won a top-level grass court match.
Yet Federer advanced 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 over the 52nd-ranked lefty to record a 303rd grand slam win, three behind Martina Navratilova for the all-time record. Pella will rue not capitalizing when he led 30-0 on Federer’s serve at 6-5 in the second.
While the grandeur may have lacked, there was no shortage of drama on Wimbledon’s other grass courts.
American 28th seed Sam Querrey, in Djokovic’s quarter of the draw, outlasted Wimbledon giant killer Lukas Rosol 6-7 (6-8) 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 6-2 12-10; Lucie Safarova saved three match points to defeat her close friend and doubles partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (7-3) 7-5; and Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin emulated Querrey by coming from two sets down to edge South African 20th seed Kevin Anderson — who stretched Djokovic to five sets 12 months ago at Wimbledon — 4-6 6-7 (13-15) 6-4 7-6 (7-2) 6-3.
British qualifier Marcus Willis, the world No. 772, upset former junior No. 1 Ricardas Berankis 6-3 6-3 6-4. Willis had to enter pre-qualifying due to his lowly ranking before playing in a second eliminator event.
He is the lowest-ranked qualifier to win a round at a grand slam since a 923rd-ranked Jared Palmer at the 1988 U.S. Open.
Earlier this year the 25-year-old planned to retire and coach full time but his new girlfriend told him not to quit. A good, and lucrative, move. He is guaranteed to pocket about $66,000 — almost equaling his career prize money of $95,000 prior to Wimbledon — even if he loses in the round of 64.
His opponent? Federer.
For Willis it’s a dream matchup that should unfold on the aforementioned, hallowed center court.