Wimbledon 2017: Rafael Nadal turns on the style

Murray is looking to become the first British player — man or woman — to defend a Grand Slam title since Fred Perry won Wimbledon from 1934-36.

“There are some players who play better after chatting with the umpire”.

“I’m just trying to go day by day”.

It’s also his 50th match at Wimbledon. The Spaniard was just fantastic, and everything was flawless for him in this match.

Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray are safely through to the second round of Wimbledon after straight-sets opening-round wins, but fifth seed Stanislas Wawrinka is out after losing world number 49 Daniil Medvedev in four sets.

The Russian, ranked 46 places below the world number three, bamboozled the US Open champion with a combination of powerful serves, heavy ground strokes and a delicate touch at the net, displaying a killer instinct that belied his tender years and apparently fragile frame.

“Of course, it’s a very unusual feeling to go out there”.

Asked whether he had had a feeling that he could pull off a surprise at Wimbledon, Medvedev said with a smile: “I love grass”.

The 21-year-old insisted he was not insinuating Alves had been bribed and accepts his actions were wrong. A 78-year-old passenger in the other vehicle died about two weeks later.

Kvitova, whose career was nearly ended by the injuries caused fighting off an intruder at her home in the Czech Republic, takes on Sweden’s Johann Larsson, the world 53.

“I was so slow”, she said.

Wimbledon’s grass is slower than when Sampras and all the classic serve- volley specialists ruled the roost and, though it still offers a lower bounce than clay or the hard courts that dominate the circuit, it seems that the difference is becoming marginal. “It’s like, ‘Oh, my goodness, don’t do that ever again!’ That was really tough for me”.

Kvitova, the champion in 2011 and 2014, was playing in only the third tournament of her comeback after being cut by a knife-wielding intruder at her home in the Czech Republic a little more than six months ago.

In his first grass-court match since 2015, the Roland Garros champion showed striking transition skills belting a banana forehand down the line in a 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 dismissal of Australia’s John Millman.

TENNIS’ MOST most prestigious Grand Slam, The Wimbledon Championships, start on Monday, July 3. Twice in the ensuing deuces, Young committed unforced errors to give Nadal break point, but both times the Spaniard failed to put his return in play.

The second-seeded Simona Halep of Romania takes the nightcap schedule versus Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil at Court 1.