Key events
Imagine that! One day you’re not involved, then the next you’re marching out on to Centre court to take on the home favourite. You’d take it.
A new opponent for Emma Raducanu
Russian 22nd seed Ekaterina Alexandrova has pulled out of Wimbledon ahead of her opening-round match with Emma Raducanu on Monday due to illness.
The 29-year-old, whose best performance at the All England Club came last year when she reached the fourth round, has been replaced by lucky loser Renata Zarazua of Mexico.
Tiafoe saves the first two, but here comes a third on the Arnaldi serve; it’s a biggun, the return bounces up at the net, and the putaway is definitive, concluding a 7-6(5) set. Nor is he the only one putting it on a seed: Shang holds easily and leads Garin 7-5!
Fine hitting from Shang from the back then, when Garin gets a net-cord, he sprints in and flicks back as terrific response that earns him a break at 6-5 in the first. Meantime, Arnaldi makes 6-3 and Tiafoe now faces three set points.
Watson has broken Minnen back to trail 3-4, while Garin, holding more easily than Shang, has put him under pressure at 3-5. On Court 15, meanwhile, Arnaldi and Tiafoe are about to play a breaker.
A forehand error from Arnaldi hands Tiafoe a break; the American will now serve for the set. And the way he fist-pumps tells you he knows how difficult a match this is – so too the next game, in which he now trails 15-30. Then another good point from the youngster sees him unable to return a fierce backhand, and a double means we’re back level at 5-5. This has the look of a match that might still be going this time tomorrow.
Shapovalov’s power-game is currently too much for Jarry – he takes the first set 6-1, just as, in the women’s competition, Dayana Yastremska, seeded 28, has done against Nadia Podoroska.
Bit of Olympics news
Heather Watson will compete in her fourth Olympic Games for Team GB this summer, after being named by the British Olympic Association (BOA) as the men’s and women’s doubles pairings are confirmed for Paris 2024.
Watson who has been a stalwart for British tennis over the past decade will compete in the women’s doubles alongside Olympic debutant Katie Boulter who was announced last month for the women’s singles tournament.
Andy Murray and Dan Evans who are both competing in the men’s singles will also team up to compete in the men’s doubles alongside Neal Skupski & Joe Salisbury with the mixed doubles sign-in confirmed on-site in Paris.
Men’s singles: Jack Draper, Cam Norrie, Dan Evans, Andy Murray.
Women’s singles: Katie Boulter.
Men’s doubles: Neal Skupski & Joe Salisbury/Andy Murray & Dan Evans
Women’s doubles: Katie Boulter and Heather Watson
The Olympic tennis tournament will run from 27 July to 4 August at Roland Garros players will compete across five medal events: singles and doubles for both men and women and mixed doubles.
The same is so of Shapovalov, another dangerous floater. He’s much better suited to grass than Jarry and leads him 4-1 30-0.
Griggzy Dimitrov is into stride quickly, up 3-0 on Dusan Lajovic, while Arnaldi has broken and been broken back by Tiafoe, to lead 2-1. He’s a really good player, the 23-year-old Italian, and on a bit of a major tear. He reached round two in Melbourne and round four in Paris, having done likewise in New York – but on his Wimbledon debut last term, he lost in four to Roberto Carballes Baena. Still, he’s a nasty first-round draw for Tiafoe and I’d not be surprised to see an upset.
BBC don’t appear to agree with my judgment. None of the matches I’m into have commentary, and on the main show they’re showing Heather Watson – down 0-2 to Greet Minnen now that you ask.
Shang saves break point with a flick down the line and eventually hangs on but, more importantly, Tim Henman thinks Naomi Osaka will win the women’s competition. I may or may not have deposited money with my local turf accountant pending the same inevitability.
Garín holds to love against Shang, who I think will love facing a seed in round one. He’s flashy, charismatic and has plenty of shots; I’m not sure he’s quite got the game to get right to the top, but he’s got something.
Ready, play. Here we go!
The players in our various matches are knocking up.
A match I’m buzzing for later on: Brenda Fruhvirtova v Mirra Andreeva (24). Both are 17 and excellent; I’ve not a clue why it’s tucked away last on Court 12, but here we are.
What to watch? To begin with, I reckon a bit of Cristian Garín v Jerry Shang, Nicolas Jarry (19) v Denis Shapovalov and Matteo Arnaldi v Francis Tiafoe (29).
Yeah, and cloudy for the rest of the week. This country.
Enid Blyton memorably advised that if there’s enough blue sky to make a sailor a pair of trousers, it’s going to be a fine day, and that’s where we are currently. The Met Office, however, think it’ll be cloudy – which is enough for us.
Preamble
Hello there and welcome to Wimbledon 2024 – day one!
If we arrived at Roland-Garros with the general pattern of things reversed – we knew who was likely to win the women’s event but had not a clue who might take the men’s – we move to Wimbledon with both trophies up for grabs.
In the women’s competition, it seems unlikely Marketa Vondrousova, now seeded six, can repeat last year’s unlikely triumph, while of those above her, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff are still learning the surface; Elena Rybakina, the 2022 champ, is erratic; and Aryna Sabalenka, who looks best-placed, still has plenty to prove – especially given her shoulder injury. Ultimately, the finalists – never mind the winner – winner could be any of them or none of them.
On the men’s side, things look a little less complex, the questions more about who wins the big matches when they inevitably arrive. We don’t know exactly where Novak Djokovic is in his preparations, but do know what it takes to beat him when it counts, and if that happens before the semi-finals, in which he’s seeded to meet Alexander Zverev, it’d be a surprise.
Meantime, in the other half of the draw, it’s hard to shake the excitement of another impending Carlos Alcaraz v Jannik Sinner epic. The former is the defending champion and French Open champion, the latter the Aussie Open champion and world number one, which is to say we’re at the start of a rivalry which could easily define the next decade.
Before that, though, we’ve got all the joy and love of the early rounds: surprise classics, huge shocks and just the enormous sense of affirming wellbeing we get from unstoppable, incessant tennis all day every day. So, in the immortal words of the all-time worst sporting chant and exhortation, “Let’s go!”.
Play: outside courts 11am BST, No 1 Court 1pm BST, Centre Court 1.30pm BST
Quick Guide
Wimbledon 2024: Monday’s order of play
Show
Centre Court (1.30pm start)
[3] C Alcaraz (Sp) v M Lajal (Est)
[22] E Alexandrova (Rus) v E Raducanu (GB)
C Dolehide (US) v C Gauff (US) [2]
No 1 Court (1pm start)
A Kovacevic (US) v D Medvedev (Rus) [5]
E Bektas (US) v A Sabalenka (Blr) [3]
[1] J Sinner (It) v Y Hanfmann (Ger)
No 2 Court (11am start)
[10] G Dimitrov (Bul) v D Lajovic (Srb)
S Wawrinka (Sui) v C Broom (GB)
N Osaka (Jpn) v D Parry (Fr)
V Azarenka (Blr) v S Stephens (US)
No 3 Court (11am start)
A Bolt (Aus) v C Ruud (Nor) [8]
[7] J Paolina (It) v S Sorribes Tormo (Sp)
M Trevisan (It) v M Keys (US) [12]
[12] T Paul (US) v P Martínez (Sp)