A front page picture in a London newspaper yesterday had Andy Murray posing with Rufus the Hawk, a raptor that keeps unwanted birds from flapping around the courts. It's a smiling picture of the defending champion but the message is hard to ignore. Relaxed as Rufus looks, he's designed to kill.
Murray will take centre stage today on Centre Court at 1.00pm, with second seed China’s Na Li following and Novak Djokovic facing Kazakstan’s Andrey Golubev in what broadcasters hope will be early evening viewing. Back from work. Feet up. The Gentleman’s Singles. Don’t expect anything to go smoothly.
Less a peacock than a hawk, Djokovic’s interest should stretch into the second week although with Golubev’s ranking of 54 modest enough, the Serbian top seed, as well as Murray, will not have forgotten last year, when Steve Darcic, ranked 135, and Sergiy Stakhovsky, a slightly better 116, smashed the world order.
The first few days saw Rafa Nadal falling out of the draw and Rodger Federer quickly following as the tournament was hollowed out. They coined a phrase for it, Wimbelegeddon, and hope it will not reoccur today.
Grigor Dimitrov opens his account on Number One court against American qualifier Ryan Harrison, a rank outsider. The Bulgarian is on a streak and comes to the grass fresh from winning at Queens last week.
A former junior champion and a one-handed back hand that earned him faux acclaim as Baby Federer, Dimitrov has grown and is beginning to fit the dimensions of early promise. He almost had the scalp of Nadal in the quarter-finals in Australia and barring any pratfalls should be charming the paying female customers into the second week.
Looking good
Ernests Gulbis and Vasek Pospisil, who along with
Bautista
Agut are seeded at Wimbledon for the first time, are all in action. Gulbis is looking good to build on recording his best Grand Slam result, which was a semi-final finish at this year’s Roland Garros.
Venus Williams takes to the court while younger Serena has the day off. The five-time Wimbledon champion has battled with illness over the years and at 34 years old is well past her best. Still she’s seeded, just about, and meets, Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor.
Belarussian Victoria Azarenka, seeded eight, is also up first day against Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, a Croation ranked 66 in the world, with Caroline Wozniacki out on showcourt number three against Israel's Shahar Peer.
The 2011 champion Petra Kvitova faces Andrea Hlavackova in an all-Czech affair, the 6ft lefty Kvitova a possible winner here if she keeps the booming ground strokes in the court.
For Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams, enthusiast of bitchy rhetoric – the more they say they have moved on it the less believable it sounds – will have to wait. Last year Williams was quoted in Rolling Stone magazine. "She's still not going to be invited to the cool parties. And, hey, if she wants to be with the guy with a black heart, go for it."
“She” was Sharapova, the “guy” Dimitrov, who once dated Williams and is now on the arm of Sharapova. Who said this was all about tennis?
