Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams set to dazzle as Wimbledon begins

For about a week, anyway.

Had it not been for Wimbledon’s strict all-whites rule, all eyes might have been on Wawrinka’s tennis kit, after he donned a peculiar, widely mocked, pair of red, white and grey shorts in taking the Roland Garros title. “Considering the fact, again, I haven’t played any official grass court matches, I don’t allow myself to look more than that. I don’t think I am going to do that”, Federer said. But an extra week between the French Open and Wimbledon this year has given him a mental boost.

World number one Novak Djokovic, who beat Nadal in the French Open quarter-finals three weeks ago, is seeded first while Roger Federer, bidding for a record eighth singles title in SW19, is second.

Spanish ninth seed Carla Suarez Navarro went down 6-2, 6-0 to Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko in just 52 minutes while Italian 24th seed Flavia Pennetta lost 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 to Kazakhstan’s Zarina Diyas.

“It’s not my concern, honestly”.

Seven-time champion Federer, two-time victor Nadal and 2013 champion Murray all start their bids on Tuesday.

Victoria Azarenka is the first player to reach the second round of Wimbledon.

She lost in the third and fourth rounds at the Australian and French Open respectively, and is looking to make a mence at her favorite Grand Slam. An early loss at Wimbledon can take her out of the Top 20 in the WTA rankings as she was a finalist here previous year. “Being the youngest of five children really made me have to scrap and be tougher”. “I’m not missing it. I’ve got a Serena slam and I’m close to another Serena slam”.

Sharapova stunned Williams in the 2004 Wimbledon final and was the 2011 runner-up to Petra Kvitova.

Serena Williams of the United States plays a return to Margarita Gasparyan of Russian Federation during their women’s singles first round match at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships in Wimbledon, London, Monday June 29, 2015.

Kvitova beat Williams in the semifinals at the Madrid Open last month. “If I would happen to win here, then maybe I would start feeling it after that”.

“It feels good”, Williams said.

“It wasn’t easy to play for three hours, but it should be OK for the next match”, the Japanese No. 1 said in a televised interview. “I want to keep going”. The Dane could be tested by No. 10 seed Angelique Kerber as early as the fourth round.

The final match on Centre Court on the opening day will see Wawrinka face Joao Sousa of Portugal.

It was the former world No. 1 Australian’s 56th five-setter in a superb grand slam career in which he also beat Pete Sampras to win the 2001 US Open.

“The game’s good and I’ve been playing well for a year now. I’d never beaten her before so for me it was a good match”, said the Czech.

For Wawrinka, he is one of the few who has been able to challenge the dominance of the big four claiming two grand slams in the last 18 months, in Australia and most recently in France.

Murray is in the same half of the Wimbledon draw as Roger Federer so can’t meet Novak Djokovic until the final.

Djokovic holds a 6-1 career advantage over the 31-year-old German.

Chris Evert talks to Serena Williams about her first-round win at Wimbledon, what it would mean to her to win the title and achieve the calendar Grand Slam, her sister Venus’ health and her expectations for the rest of the year. “So I’m trying to get to that one, at least make it deep in the second week of that tournament”.

Williams clapped her racquet after one brutal forehand victor from Gasparyan, and the title favourite could afford to offer such praise, with the match in the bag.