Day 1 Today at Wimbledon

A manic Monday to start a frantic effort -- fortnight, there are past

champions and would-be champions. The most eagerly anticipated having

just for a long time because of the prospect of a you know who. We have

John McEnroe and Lindsay Devonport, to cast their judgments. You are at

the tail-end of your career. The early days of yours. He is your

starter for 10, at home. Who is this man? That man. Recognise him?

I remember him. Here is another clue if you do not remember. He is

the man who actually beat Rafael Nadal last minute -- last year.

Last year, against Lukas Rosol, who was still barely a household name

with his own house but that was his moment of fame. This year cast in

that role was Steve Darcis from Belgium, ranked 130 in the world.

Have a look to discover he it is Obama struggling in the first set.

A Belgian was -- here is Nadal struggling in the first sector. The

Belgian was playing some great There was a feeling that he was

playing himself in, but bit by bit, Rafael Nadal was going to rein him

in. And normal service would be resumed. But a bit like the Lukas

Rosol game last year, Darcis could not miss. Maybe he was inspired by

what happened 12 months ago, it you realise that if you go for it, you

have the chance, just go for it. So seize the day. After what would

have been a fairly interesting and up and down first set for Nadal and

consistently good hitting for Darcis, we Irina first set tie-

Nadal always keeps his form Open, he can always run their on clay and

retrieve it easily. On grass, it He has timed his chums so well.

That was awkward. -- behind his jumps so well. He almost jumped a

little early. Just right. He is two It is an incredible.! He could not

have played it any better. It is Played it right, came in a first

serve. Made a volley, Nadal made the corner and played one of the

He has got it! What a set of tennis that was from Steve Darcis. 29

years old, ranked 135. He is rolling back the years. He takes

the set in 69 minutes. 77-6, 7-4 on the breaker. Here we go in the

second set, same as the first, into a tie-break. He is the Belgian, 6-3,

Nadal serving, he is got to get back into the match now, shortly? -

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The first serve this time, he needs Everybody is moving forwards to the

I think 10,001 people thought that was going to go wrong. It went in.

Right on the line, that served. A puff of white. It is a 4th set

Just got to play tight now, just Another good percentage play by

Nadal Currock taking the speed of the first serve, place it well in

What a cool head under such huge pressure. Knots of approval all

round. No one could have tried any harder to pick this up. Thank God

we are playing on grass and not on a hard surface. His knees would

have been open by now. First time, Nadal ahead in the tie-breaker. A

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A very uncharacteristic error by Another big one down the middle.

bigger than 140 miles per hour. It is long! For 12 months ago,

Wimbledon witnessed one of the biggest shock upsets in its history.

Nadal going out second round to Lukas Rosol. Could it be a round

earlier this year? Darcis it takes a two sets up and laugh lead. --

We were just discussing, the question for Women macro is

maintaining this extraordinary level that he is playing at -- that

Darcis is playing it. He is playing the match of his life in the

At times, it feels like there are to have them down there. The way he

has covered the court. -- it feels like there are two of them down

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The second serve of Nadal has been Can't get up on his serve the we

And he did not chased down, and he is limping badly, Nadal. We have

had a couple of clues in this match. But that is the clearest yet. A

that any perhaps is an issue. -- at that his fleet is perhaps an issue.

He has got it! Well, like me was about to strike

twice. He is the Belgian serving in the final game of the match. What

do we say about this, in terms of where it sits in the great shocks

of Wimbledon? It is certainly the top three. Boris Becker, and last

year, the match that Rafael Nadal lost to Lukas Rosol, this was

shocking because he had missed so much time, come back so strong,

albeit on clay court. Know I have got a sick feeling in my stomach

because I a see him out there noticeably limping. Darcis played

incredibly, a very smart match, but I am beginning to wonder if all he

has got left is the clay events. You wonder if Darcis it just looks

at the Lukas Rosol match. He is comfortable playing on grass, and a

lot of times that is the first obstacle for places. He beat Tomas

Berdych last it at the Olympics. It is so noticeable that played --

Nadal is not at 100%. You have got to wonder what is going to happen

this summer. Darcis does not have the firepower. He is not sex at

five, he played a -- 6 ft 5, he played a tricky match but nowhere

near the level that we saw last year. This is the time when you get

Nadal, early. It is heavy conditions, his ball does not kick

up, he is not moving as well. question that hangs in the air is,

was anything wrong with Rafael Nadal? I think you're joking. I

answered this question three or four times already. I do not want

to talk about my knees this afternoon. The only thing I can say

today is congratulations to Steve Darcis, he played a fantastic match,

and everything that I will say today about my knees are an excuse

today about my knees are an excuse come unaided or to put any excuses.

--, I do not want to see any excuses. I spoke to you immediately

after the match, you did not quite know what he felt. You have had a

couple of hours since that, how do you felt -- feel now? I feel great.

I have never felt that good. I am so happy, I think I had a great

match, maybe one of the best I have ever played. Especially here at

Wimbledon, it is wonderful. What did you think going into the match,

a knowing that Nadal's had colossal record? It is difficult but you

have nothing to lose. Everyone knows him and what he has done

before. He is a great player, and I knew that I had not so much of a

chance today. But I tried to take the small chances I had a by think

I did good and was OK in the end. He was keen after the match to say

how well you had played rather than put any attention on any possible

injuries he had. What do you think about that? I don't know. I think

if you start to focus on the opponent, especially him, he is

fighting to the end. I think that is what he did. Baby he did not

play his best tennis today, because you do -- maybe he did not play his

best tennis today, because you do not beat him if he is at 100%.

Maybe he did not like my game, I played great from the beginning,

put pressure on. I kept a serving good. I was very aggressive, yes, I

do not know what to say about him. I don't know if he was hurt or not.

He did not play his best match, that is for sure. Whatever the

state of play as far as Nadal is concerned, what does that do to

that section of the draw? What a whole lot. Because Federer was

going to play him in the quarters, so one of those two guys was out.

You still presume that Roger is going to get through. But that

opens the door for the Lleyton Hewitts of the world, John is no,

people who have not been there and done that. -- John is now. They

would have some renewed hope. Murray might have looked at the

draw and thought, if Nadal and Deborah can play a 1614 -- Federer

can play a 16-14 match, they would be tired. It was going to be, he

was going to go through Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal,

Roger Federer was going to have to go through them all. Andy Murray is

comfortable on grass and that opens his door. Let's have a look and see

how Lleyton Hewitt is getting on, Stanislas Wawrinka, he was two sets

to the good last a whistle. Here is Stanislas Wawrinka to -- with a

break back. They are living up to the fact that this was going to be

a good match. He blew the second set and now he is trying to fight

his way back in. If you want to follow that game, that is on the

red button at the moment. As far as Maria Sharapova was concerned today,

after all the spats in the tabloids about her and Serena Williams, it

was time to get back to the tennis. Her opponent was the hugely

promising French gulp Chris Evert ladder rich -- Christina or with an

We thought she was going to be in all sorts of trouble there, but

great composure from the French woman. She is a great doubles

player, but she was in the finals of the Mixed Doubles in the French

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I am not sure I have ever seen Sarratt Rover -- Sharapova or plain

bad shot, but she was happy to play it at that time. They both were

happy to play a squashed shot during that radical a pretty

effective for the first week of the tournament where the ball can skid

Well-played! Lose that point, and That has been impressive forehand.

She recovered from another missed first serve. Looking like it is

tough for her to keep a fluid motion when there is a bit of

tension. She rebounded nicely off It has been called out on the

baseline. More first-class defence from Mladenovic. Five points off. A

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set point to the winner of this There is a buzz around here,

because the squeal with a backhand was quite powerful. As powerful as

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Well, that was a wonderful set of tennis here on Centre Court.

The first set of tennis that you will see in an opening match, he

was the second, it was not quite so good. Sharapova ran awake -- ran

away with it. 28 with the French player for two -- plenty for the

French pair to console her with. Two people were treading on

eggshells, and then someone said, Maria, who are your heroes in

tennis? Probably Steffi Graf.You think he would play with her, with

her great forehand? I think she Do you think that Steffi Graf would

drop Maria up? It is always tough to compare eras, but I think Maria

would hold her own in the match. depends what the surfaces. I would

like Steffi Graf on clay, but I think Maria, on a first step --

faster court, which make life interesting. We wish we could see

matches like that. I would like to see you play in Roger, and Andy. In

a computer-generated world! Let's talk about the loser, first of all.

How good can the French girl de? Mladenovic showed a lot of promise.

She was fearless, first time on Centre Court, playing a former

champion and she went out there with confidence. She served really

well, she only got broken once and that was very hard to against a

return as good as Maria. He is athletic, at which he has a good

future. Sharapova today? I like the cat fighting! I think she is off

her -- of the court, Sharapova. We will see how it develops if they

play again. It was disappointing that no one up the ante in the

press conference today, it is just simmering. It has been simmering

for a couple of days. Maybe let it come down a bit, and see if we can

find something else. Somebody who estate out of this is Victoria

Azarenka, she played today, it is quite a dramatic game. Very scary

moments, especially when you hear It didn't sound but she was going

to play based on that. It was a good 10 or 12 minutes before she

went out on the court again. boyfriend was there. I thought he

would at least take his glasses off. There is no glass in those glasses!

Anyway, she got back on the court. She was fine, in inverted commas.

Find enough to beat her opponent from Portugal. So, what do we think

about Victoria Azarenka as far as a potential winner is concerned?

Everyone is talking about relationships, let's hear about

consistent results over the last couple of years on grass. I think

I've learnt a lot more with experience on how to play on grass,

make adjustments. I mean, I like grass, actually. At the beginning,

it was difficult to understand what kind of adjustment I need to do to

play, but my game suits me very well. And I am excited to be here.

Wimbledon is one of my favourite events. So I think the grass is very

appropriate. And maybe we will see the ring on my finger in two weeks.

From somebody who is getting to like grass quite a lot to somebody who

has always been very much at home, here we are with Lleyton Hewitt, two

points away from victory. He has had two match points against Stanislas

Wawrinka on the more one chord. Here is the Swiss number two getting

himself out of jail with a big himself out of jail with a big

serve. Let's have a word about Hewitt. He played very well at

Queen's. Again, the guys who get older, grass is going to be the best

service for Roger, for example. And Lleyton Hewitt knows all about how

to use his tools to his advantage. And he's one of the quickest guys,

even though he has lost his speed with all the surgeries, he has been

under the knife way too many times, but he can still move out there and

he's a great competitor, one of the greatest. As you get older and you

start to realise that maybe this isn't such a bad job after all, you

dig in a little more and appreciate these types of moments. Now he is

realising that as the clock is ticking, you want to maximise the

enjoyment as much as you can. looking his rankings, and it is not

what you would expect from Lleyton Hewitt at all. A lot of that has to

do with injuries. But it would be harder to keep going if you were

100, 180, when you have been number one in the world two years in a row.

That was vintage Hewitt, getting to match point. Champion 11 years ago.

Here we are, match point for a famous Aussie. This is after a lot

of turbulence in Australia in sport. We've seen a lot of slipping on the

court in Wimbledon. This is a second serve as well. Don't forget, he's

playing a man who's played in one of the best singles matches anywhere

this year. That is Wawrinka spoiling the party. We will keep you

up-to-date with that. Who knows how much longer that has got left. Now,

Roger Federer, he was the first person to walk onto Centre Court at

lunchtime today. He was playing Victor Hanescu. The thing was, he

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game. He is just loving this. Oh, match at Wimbledon this year.

An exhibition match. Extraordinary. It was. It felt like a glorified

practice session. There was no sweat at all. You're not going to get

anything from that other than you've got appreciated while you can.

Federer was tend to want to be champion here this year, when he has

won it seven times. As somebody got this wrong? Are we writing his

defeat? He has got to the finals of the Olympics, he won it last year,

so grass is his favourite surface. His odds will go up now that Nadal

is out. It is difficult to defend a title. When you win seven, it is

difficult to win the eighth. Is that when it gets tough? I would know.

The fact that Rafa Nadal one and eight title, would that have wild

Roger Federer a bit? That's a good point. It would help him. How in the

world is this guy is still motivated? It is incredible how much

he likes to play and win. Roger won for the first time in 2003 and he

took the title from Lleyton Hewitt. Here is match point a few years ago

on Court One against Stanislas Wawrinka. And Hewitt coming through

in straight sets against the Swiss number two. A trademark celebration

to be out there. So, Wawrinka is going to look at Hewitt now. Some of

the best tennis being played is by this man now. These are the pictures

from Court Number One. As far as everything else today, let's see

This might not be a household name in the UK, but Italy is Sara Errani

won her game. She is the toast of the nation after crushing 6-2, 6-2

Anna pitch rattled off six games in a row for victory. Jo-Wilfried

Tsonga could also be Andy Murray 's quarter-final opponent. He should be

if he continues to show this kind of spring in his step. It was too much

for the Belgian. It shows just why he has been a semifinalist for the

past two years. He has Wimbledon's very own Tigger. Marin Cilic is

seeded ten. He is very much in form. The Croatian won his match with

Baghdatis. 14th seeded Tipsarevic fell foul of treaty. Jamie Hampton

played ten matches on grass in an impressive build-up to Wimbledon but

it was 11 and out against Sloane Stephens. She's the 20 old who beat

Serena en route to the Australian Open semi-final and hopes here to

cement her star in the Grand Slam walk of Fame.

Here we are, we've gone 40 minutes and haven't mentioned Andy Murray.

Here we go with a first instalment of Murray 2013. His opponent today

was Benjamin Becker of Germany whom he beat emphatically at Queen's but

today was much more of a tough fight. We join it in the first

served. The Germans serving 5-4 more comfortable. He is moving

exceptionally well right now. If you heard what is going on with Nadal,

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moment, is Becca. Stress level has looked like it was going to be one

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waiting for the area from his opponent. Murray's chance has come

and say, wow, you would see a guy hit the ball as hard as he does. But

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he has definitely got the ability to "yes! " it is 6-4. A satisfactory

start. And here we go into the second set when Murray is leading

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has this tendency with those deep balls to pray that they are not out.

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strange play. JOHN INVERDALE: Watched by Ross

Hutchins, here is Andy serving in the second set for a 2-0 set lead.

Not a lot later, he found himself on the point of victory. And it was

UMPIRE: Game, set and match. JOHN INVERDALE: In the press

conference afterwards, everybody always says, is the pressure getting

to you? Everybody is looking at you, to you? Everybody is looking at you,

how do you I put a lot of pressure on myself. I expect a lot of myself.

So the other stuff kind of goes with it. It doesn't really matter. What

matters is what I am feeling what is on the court. And I think I've done

a good job of putting that to the back of my head and just concentrate

on what is going on out there. But that is going to be there for the

rest of my career, something that, you know, all the players have to

deal with. We will talk about Andy Murray and a second and if you

didn't see the documentary last night about Andy Murray, the

person, it is on the eye player, and it is worth your time.

We will continue our annual quest now for the next big thing in

British tennis. Make a sweeping search for a future

Wimbledon star and you might find an 18-year-old Yorkshire lad who has

shown signs in recent weeks that, in time, he can handle the leap to the

big-time. He's one junior slams. He's the youngest Briton since Andy

Murray to win a futures events, a tournament that points to a rich

potential. Today was a step up from Queen's and Eastbourne. He made his

debut at Wimbledon. I've been excited. Although he is in the first

round, he's 18. It is going to be nervous and the massive experience

for him. Nerves? What nervous? Well, how about that. Edmund would

be more calm by taking the opening game against the 24th seed from

world rankings was evident. Janowicz swept to a lead. The second set

would tumble away like the first, 6-2, and it was 6-4 in the third.

UMPIRE: Game, set and match, Janowicz. Today was much more about

the score on the board. He has shown what a good player he

is. Whereas his opponent, Edmund, has shown what a good player he

might become. It is tough for me. But I am still young. The main thing

is to keep thinking about the long-term goal. I was not able to

produce a result for the crowd but the support I got is amazing. He

will learn from today. He will learn what to do better for the future.

And that is how he will operate. sweep of the grounds for other

Britons in action saw a lane about patcher continuing her comeback from

injury and perceived retirement only to have the big Wimbledon return

halted by Flavia Pennetta. Another Italian accounted for another Brit

on court ten as Camila Giorgi eight Sam Murray. No relation to a certain

Scott, by the way. She lost on her Grand Slam debut. In the first round

last year, Joanna Konta was twice two points from victory only to

lose. This year, Britain's number four never found such tantalising

opportunities in a defeat to Serbia's Eleni Jankovic. But then

she is the 16th seed and former world number one.

Another result to give you from not so long, Anne Keothavong going out

to Muguruza from Spain. Disappointing from the second set in

particular. Another result from the last hour of features Petra

Kvitova. She had a bit of an injury timeout. She managed to recover from

that. That was a slightly erratic performance but she did win in three

sets. Now, the verdict of our sets. Now, the verdict of our

experts on Mr Murray. He looked good out there. The first time he's been

able to play Wimbledon with a Grand Slam title already under his belt

and the gold medal. I like the way he was talking a few days ago, when

he said that he was trying not to worry about what has happened the

last game or two, and try to be more positive. Also we've been talking

about the documentary. Good for him to get some stuff off his chest.

He's in a good position mentally, he looks fitter than ever, so may be

missing the French Open will pay off for him. I couldn't agree more. The

Dunblane stuff, that is it! Get that off his chest for the first time.

That was big. The last 12 months, the results. I can attest to the

fact that that he can practice indoors. I know what they can do.

His fans are supportive and it is nice to see him playing this well.

The pressure is definitely less. Having won a slam. He won the US

Open, he won the Olympics, you can't me there is more pressure? Yes,

expects a lot of himself. But not as much is a year ago. And the manner

he won against Roger Federer was so comprehensive. The first time I ever

saw a crowd... I didn't think Roger was happy about the crowd being

against him, so it will be interesting to see whether they play

again in the semifinals, how that would pan out in terms of the crowd

support. Now, Kyle Edmund, there's always a danger because we are

always trying to find somebody to take the bat on. There was a long

fallow period when there wasn't much going on, then Tim Henman, Greg, and

he picked up the bat on. Who is next? Do we need to take things

step-by-step and not get too ahead of ourselves? Of course, no doubt.

We've been hearing about this for years. We have the same problem in

the US. We are trying to find the next person to follow in the

footsteps of our great players of the past. I happen to watch car

Edmund play one of my boys at the French and he's got a great

temperament. He's got a lot going for him. Without a doubt, you will

see him be at least in the top 75. That's an optimistic note on which

to see what we've got for you tomorrow. If you're coming on Centre

Court or watching us on our Court or watching us on our

coverage, that starts at Do you know much about Mandy Minella? I don't. I

wouldn't fancy playing Serena Williams, never mind who is playing

in the studio. Every night throughout this year's highlights,