huhit again and welcome to day two of the Wimbledon Championships.
Monday was an exciting start to the tournament with shocking results, five set wins, rain delays and an inevitable late finish under the roof of the Center Court with Andy Murray.
Today it’s the turn of the 22 and 23-time Grand Slam champions, as Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams begin their campaigns at Centre.
However, it is French Open champion Iga Swiatek who starts the proceedings on the main show court. The world No. 1 has won her last 35 matches, starting against Croatian qualifier Jana Fett, ranked 254. And Swiatek admits she still needs to get used to playing on grass.
“Honestly, I still feel like I have to pick grass. Last year it was definitely one of those tournaments where I didn’t know what to expect,” Swiatek told reporters on Saturday.
“That’s when I realized, match by match, that maybe I can do more and more. Still, I only played ten days on grass this year, so it’s not much. I didn’t have much time to prepare.”
“But I’m just trying to stay open-minded and take positives out of the situation and realize that I can play without expectations.”
Elsewhere, there are plenty of Brits in action and we start the day from Court 12, where wildcard Ryan Peniston makes his Wimbledon debut against 95th-placed Swiss Henri Laaksonen.
Peniston has climbed more than 200 places in the rankings to a current career high of 147 in a year, marking his first forays on the ATP Tour by reaching the quarter-finals at both Queen’s Club and Eastbourne.
The southpaw hopes to maintain that strong form against Laaksonen in the first round, as close friend and future housemate Alastair Gray takes on former Wimbledon junior champion Tseng Chun-hsin.
The 24-year-old Londoner, in 283rd place, is following in the footsteps of Cameron Norrie who overlapped for a year with the British number one at Texas Christian University in the United States before turning pro last spring.