Home-grown test for Muguruza
As is tradition, the ladies’ champion Garbiñe Muguruza will open on Centre Court on Wimbledon’s first Tuesday and she says the thought of returning to the scene of her coronation makes her “very emotional and happy” again.
Yet this is never meant to be a curtain-raising procession. It may also offer a unique opportunity for the champion’s oft-unheralded opponent. Enter Stockport lass Naomi Broady, the world No.138, who’s had a bit of a chequered, globe-trotting, rollercoaster career, but no moment in the sun quite like this.
Her friends have been telling her that if there’s ever a time to draw Muguruza, who can run scalding hot or curiously cold, it’s in the first round. Ah, but if the No.3 seed is at her destructive best then Broady will swiftly go the way of “baby brother” Liam who won just one game in the last two sets against Milos Raonic on Monday.
And turn away now if you don’t want to heed history’s warning. The last time a Spaniard faced a Briton in this Tuesday ritual was 21 years ago when Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, given the honour when champion Steffi Graf pulled out with injury, whitewashed our very own Clare Wood, Wimbledon’s Assistant Referee, 6-0, 6-0. “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was a less one-sided affair,” noted one UK newspaper. Dear Clare can still laugh about it. Just.
The big-serving 6ft 2in Broady won’t shrink from this challenge, though, and says she has nothing to lose. The same can't quite be said of Johanna Konta.
If Wimbledon expects so much of her now, it’s as nothing to what she demands of herself. Since roaring into the last four of Wimbledon and the world here last year while wooing us all with news of her latest chocolate muffin creations, she has struggled to replicate that form, albeit a run to the Nottingham final will have boosted her confidence.
There’s a real resilience to Jo and she may need it against 21-year-old Natalia Vikhlyantseva on No.1 Court, having seen when practising with the young Russian in Charleston that she has “a big game and big shots”.
Konta has become an inspiration for her young British successors like Gabriella Taylor, Katy Dunne and Katie Boulter, and also contemporaries like Heather Watson, all of whom hope today to follow the example of 19-year-old first-day starlet Katie Swan.
Wild card Dunne, from Hemel Hempstead, has the most glamorous tie against last year’s Roland-Garros winner, No.12 seed Jelena Ostapenko, while Taylor, rebuilding a promising career after suffering a mysterious life-threatening disease two years ago, has something even better – a glamour tie that actually looks winnable.
For, on Court 14, the 20-year-old from Southampton faces Eugenie Bouchard, a finalist here in 2014, who is also rebuilding her career following absence through injury.
This really does feel like Wimbledon’s “Ladies’ Day” with world No.1 Simona Halep and former champions Maria Sharapova and Petra Kvitova all on duty. Yet the match of the day might very well be between a pair who’ve both fallen at the last hurdle here at the hands of Serena Williams. Angelique Kerber, the No.11 seed, takes on 33-year-old Vera Zvonareva – like her 2010 final opponent, a rejuvenated mum – on No.3 Court.
So, to the gentlemen. In the absence of Andy Murray, it’s Kyle Edmund’s stage now, even if Britain’s modest new No.1, who can seem as laid back as a labrador on a sun lounger, would never make so bold a suggestion.
On No.1 Court, Edmund tackles hungry Australian qualifier Alex Bolt, who gave up the game disillusioned two years ago only to discover that erecting fences around tennis courts in the broiling heat 10 hours each day was rather less fun. So, he started over.
Edmund could meet Novak Djokovic, who seems to be inching his way back towards his best, in the third round but first up, the three-time champion must despatch America’s Tennys Sandgren, the Australian Open quarter-finalist, who says he couldn’t afford to be bad at the sport with a name like that.
Last but never least, Rafa’s back! Señor Nadal has had a lean time here since winning his second title in 2010, the victim last year of one of the matches of the tournament in his fourth round defeat to Gilles Muller. Now Dudi Sela seeks to become Rafa’s latest Centre Court tormentor.
Last year, the 5ft 9in Israeli cut such a comical figure standing next to 6ft 10in John Isner before slaying the giant American that he was hailed as diddy Dudi. This, though, is the real Dudi and Goliath deal.
