Wimbledon – Day 1 Preview

It is that time of the year again and the 125th edition of the Wimbledon Championships are upon us. Heres a sneak preview on what can be expected on Day 1 of the Championships.

Also Read: Wimbledon At Glance

Rafael Nadal will start proceedings on Centre Court and this will be a new experience to the Spaniard as he generally likes to play on the second day of any round in a Grand Slam. However, the unseeded Micheal Russell shouldn’t worry the defending champion too much as he could use with some warm up matches in the earlier rounds. French Open finalist Francesca Schiavone will take on the unseeded Jelena Dokic (remember her?) and though Jelena has experienced it before, playing on Centre Court again will be like living a dream. Then, the whole of Britain will wait with bated breath as Andy Murray begins his quest of becoming the first British champion since Fred Perry, over 75 years ago.

Over on Court No. 1, last year’s finalist Vera Zvonereva opens her campaign against unseeded American Alison Riske. Also in action will be last year’s men’s finalist Tomas Berdych , who will look to go one better this years , and he opens against the mercurial Fillipo Volandri. Three time finalist Andy Roddick will bring down the curtain for the first day on Court No 1, as he will take on German Andreas Beck.

Also in action will be the returning Venus Williams, seeded 23rd this year, fourth seed Victoria Azarenka and Frenchman Gael Monfils. The match of the day should undoubtly be the Croats Ivan Ljubicic and Marin Cilic slugging it out on Court No 3. Another intriguing matchup will be on Court 4 where Feliciano Lopez will lock horns with German Micheal Berrer. Other notable seeds who will be in action are 10th seeded American Mardy Fish, 12 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova and 23rd seed Serbian Janko Tipsarevic who will meet big serving Croat Ivo Karlovic, conqueror of then defending champion Lleyton Hewitt in 2003.

Frenchman Richard Gasquet, 25TH seed Slovak Daniela Hantuchova and 11th seed German Andrea Petkovic round off an action filled day on the lawns of the All England Club. There is so much history associated with this tournament that all 128 in the men’s and women’s draw will want to leave a mark on this hallowed turf.

Tags: All-England Club, Grand Slam, Preview, Rafael Nadal, Tennis, Wimbledon Championships