World No. 1, defending champion, top seed and home favourite Andy Murray feels weight of expectation as tournament begins with his first-round match
World No. 1 and Wimbledon’s top seed Andy Murray of Great Britain serves during a training session at the All-England Club yesterday. Pic/AFP
Andy Murray is ready to battle the nerves before opening up play on Centre Court on Day One of Wimbledon today.
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As defending men's champion, he has that honour and will take on Kazakhstan's Alexander Bublik.
Murray confirmed he was fit for the tests that lie ahead in the coming fortnight, after the hip injury problem that affected his preparation. And his goal is to carry off the title for a third time. He said: "I don't feel like I'm coming in trying to defend something.
I'm going out there trying to win Wimbledon again. I want to try to win the competition. It maybe adds a little bit extra pressure. Maybe a few more nerves especially at this Slam with the way the scheduling is, that you're the first one out there on Centre Court. You feel you're opening up the tournament. That adds a few more nerves. But I feel okay. I've felt fairly calm the last few days."
The Centre Court order of play is completed by two-time women's champion Petra Kvitova taking on Johanna Larsson, and US Open champion Stan Wawrinka playing Russian Daniil Medvedev.
The contenders (Men)
Andy Murray (Britain)
World ranking: 1
Age: 30
Britain's defending champ may have not won a title since March, but he reached the French Open semis recently.
Roger Federer (Switzerland)
World ranking: 5
Age: 35
The Swiss is in top form, having followed up his Australian Open title with wins in Indian Wells and Miami.
Rafael Nadal (Spain)
World ranking: 2
Age: 31
The Spaniard finished runner-up to Federer at the Australian Open before winning his 10th French Open title recently.
Novak Djokovic (Serbia)
World ranking: 4
Age: 30
The eight-times Grand Slam champ maybe out of form but he has a legend, Andre Agassi, in his coaching corner here.
Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland)
World ranking: 3
Age: 32
He's never got past the quarter-finals at Wimbledon but having made the French Open final, means he sure is in good touch.
The contenders (Women)
Angelique Kerber (Germany)
World ranking: 1
Age: 29
The World No. 1 hasn't won a WTA title this year, but has a good record at Wimbledon, where she finished runner-up last year.
Simona Halep (Romania)
World ranking: 2
Age: 25
She reached her third consecutive final of 2017 at the French Open in June and also won the Madrid Open.
Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic)
World ranking: 3
Age: 25
Pliskova has been victorious in Qatar, Brisbane and recently on grass at Eastbourne too.
Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic)
World ranking: 12
Age: 27
Kvitova became one of the favourites here after winning the Aegon Classic in Birmingham recently.
Venus Williams (USA)
World ranking: 11
Age: 37
The five-times Wimbledon champion reached the semi-finals here last year. She lost to sister Serena at the 2017 Australian Open.
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