As Wimbledon begins today under the bright London sunshine, many of the big household names in the tennis world have been out on the courts getting their campaigns underway. Wimbledon necessities of strawberries and cream and Pimms were in full flow as the lucky spectators watched the dramatic first matches unfold.
Novak Djokovic started the tennis on centre court by challenging Philipp Kohlschreiber who is ranked 33rd in the world. This was Djokovic’s toughest opener in terms of ranking. The defending champion did not disappoint the excited crowd though as he beat Kohlschreiber in straight sets (6-4, 6-4, 6-4). This was Djokovic’s first competitive match since losing to Stan Wawrinka in the French Open final.
Top seed @DjokerNole opens his title defence with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win over Kohlschreiber. Hewitt or Nieminen awaits pic.twitter.com/IOdSG6i8MB
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) June 29, 2015
Could she make it to six?
Serena Williams also got her campaign off to a good start, beating Margarita Gasparyan 6-4, 6-1. Gasparyan who is ranked 113 places below the world number one broke Williams’s serve early in the first set, prompting the crowd to think that the Russian may defeat Williams. As usual, Williams did not disappoint and managed to recover from the small shock and go on to win in straight sets. As five times champion of Wimbledon and hot favourite to win the tournament, we have a lot more to see of her in the coming weeks.
Hear me roar: Five-time champion @serenawilliams is into the 2R, defeating Margarita Gasparyan 6-4, 6-1 #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/aTaRoqz2WK
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) June 29, 2015
Wimbledon dramatics
One of Britain’s young and upcoming tennis players also played today. Liam Broady, the British number six, took on Marinko Matosevic on court 18. The 21 year old wildcard who is ranked 182nd in the world managed to win the match in arguably one of the best matches of the day. After being two sets down straight away, there were doubts that Broady would be able to bring it back. Against all odds though, he managed and won the match 5-7, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3. We were able to see how much it meant to Broady as he was seen jumping in the air and thumping his chest straight after the fifth set ended. Murray sent his congratulations to Broady after the match.
Murray himself will play his first match in the competition tomorrow against Mikhail Kukushkin. Many pundits have tipped Murray as favourite to win this year’s competition after his recent success at Queens.
Who do you think will win this year’s competition? Let us know in the comments below.