Here’s what some of the favouritesin the women’s and men’s draw have had to say for themselves in the lead up to the tournament.
Wimbledon and Glastonburyare two English institutions on the complete opposite ends of the spectrum, yet they do share some similarities. I wonder if anyone has travelled from Worthy Farm directly to the queue at SW19. Hopefully they have had a shower.
Let’s play a game. It’s a simple one, where you guess whether the image is from Glastonbury or Wimbledon. Answers to come a little later, if they are not too obvious. Get yours in tomichael.butler@theguardian.com.
To get you in the mood before the action starts, why not have a read of some preview content.
First,Simon Cambers on Emma Raducanu, who admitted her first-round battle with the 17-year-old Welsh player Mimi Xu that “truthfully I don’t expect much from myself this year.”
Next,Tumaini Carayol on Carlos Alcaraz. At just 22, he is seeking to become only the fifth man in the open era to win three consecutive Wimbledon titles. He would also become the fourth man to win the French Open and Wimbledon back‑to-back on multiple occasions in the open era, after Rod Laver, Björn Borg and Rafael Nadal. Ooooof.
Here we go again. The first day ofWimbledonis here. The sun is out, the grass is so green it looks like it has been dyed (for the first week at least), the strawberries are prepped, the hamstrings are stretched, the players’ white uniforms and patrons’ red trousers have each been perfectly ironed, the ballboys and ballgirls have been trained to within an inch of their lives and here I am, dressed like Luke Wilson in the Royal Tenenbaums (minus the magnificent beard and arm bandages), sitting in my front room, on the edge of my seat, ready to bring the latest updates from SW19.
The live action starts at 11am BST on the outer courts, with notable seeds Frances Tiafoe, Daniil Medvedev, Elina Svitolina, Jeļena Ostapenko among those first up in action against their lesser-ranked opponents. Others like this year’s Australian Open winner Madison Keys and British male Cameron Norrie are due to begin just after midday, while the show courts will start at 1pm/1.30pm. Carlos Alcaraz kicks things off on Centre Court against Italian veteran Fabio Fognini, which is a particularly tasty encounter. World No 1 Arnya Sabalenka, Emma Raducanu,Alexander Zverev, teenage upstart João Fonseca and American hopeful Taylor Fritz are all in action on a bumper opening day.
Here is an order of play, for your perusal.
Centre Court(1.30pm BST start)
F Fognini (It) v C Alcaraz (Sp, 2)
P Badosa (Sp, 9) v K Boulter (GB)
A Rinderknech (Fr) v A Zverev (Ger, 3)
No.1 Court(1pm BST start)
A Sabalenka (Blr, 1) v C Branstine (Can)
J Fearnley (GB) v J Fonseca (Bra)
E Raducanu (GB) v M Xu (GB)
No.2 Court(11am BST start)
B Bonzi (Fr) v D Medvedev (Rus, 9)
E Ruse (Rom) v M Keys (US, 6)
J Paolini (It, 4) v A Sevastova (Lat)
T Fritz (US, 5) v G Mpetshi-Perricard (Fr)
No.3 Court(11am BST start)
S Kartal (GB) v J Ostapenko (Lat, 20)
H Rune (Den, 8) v N Jarry (Chi)
M Berrettini (It, 32) v K Majchrzak (Pol)
K Siniakova (Cz) v Q Zheng (Chn, 5)
Court 12(11am BST start)
E Moller (Den) v F Tiafoe (US, 12)
V Royer (Fr) v S Tsitsipas (Gr, 24)
L Fernandez (Can, 29) v H Klugman (GB)
M Vondrousova (Cz) v M Kessler (US, 32)
Court 18
A Bondar (Hun) v E Svitolina (Ukr, 14)
C Norrie (GB) v R Bautista Agut (Sp)
M McDonald (US) v K Khachanov (Rus, 17)
N Osaka (Jpn) v T Gibson (Aus)
Do get in touch with me today with your thoughts, predictions, musings or reflections:michael.butler@theguardian.com.