Wimbledon 2017: Defending champion Andy Murray begins campaign for third title

Pressure might have been viewed as the least of the problems facing defending champion Andy Murray during the lead-up to his first match at the All England Club at 1pm precisely on opening Monday.

After all, he arrived here with relatively few grass yards in his legs having lost his opening match at Queen’s Club, and then withdrawing from both his exhibition matches at Hurlingham last week with a sore hip.

As he hobbled between points during some long, hard practice sessions in the quiet, warm days before the gates opened to ticket-holders, his physical shape was still under close scrutiny, yet through his final weekend of preparation, he looked more and more like his old self.

Such that, by the time he faced the media on Sunday, he was not at all concerned about his physical shape:

“I’ll be fine to play the event and play seven matches.”

He was not even overly concerned about the pressure that might come from defending the biggest of titles in front of a home crowd.

“Really, once you get out there, I don’t feel like I’m coming in trying to defend something. I’m going out there trying to win Wimbledon again…

“Maybe a few more nerves, especially with the way the scheduling is, that you’re the first one out there on Centre Court. You feel like you’re opening up the tournament a little bit, and that adds a few more nerves. But I feel OK. I’ve felt fairly calm the last few days.”

On paper, the nerves would be all on the side of his opponent, lucky loser Alexander Bublik, but then bearing in mind that Murray had twice lost to lucky losers in his last four tournaments—as well as making a first-round exit to Fabio Fognini in a third—perhaps the Briton’s nerves would jangle just a little.

In any case, the tall, extrovert 20-year-old Bublik was not one to be overwhelmed. He had, for a start, done a light-hearted interview of Murray for the ATP earlier this season. As Murray put it: “He’s obviously a big personality. You know, he’s not a quiet guy.”

Bublik, one of the young players in serious contention for the #NextGen Race to Milan, won his first match in his first Major main draw in Australia this year, beating No16 seed Lucas Pouille—so he was not intimidated by a big stage or a big name.

He had a tricky game, too, one that might suit grass very well. Murray was hoping to catch some video before the match, but he knew, “He plays a lot of unexpected shots, a lot of drop-shots, mixes his game up a lot, takes chances…”

Sure enough, Bublik began with a volley winner, then sliced and diced his way to deuce. Murray held, but Bublik laid out his wares in the second game: two 130mph+ aces.

However, if there is a way to quieten a showman, it is to run him into the ground, and Murray drop-shotted time and again, finishing with a lob, a deft volley pass, and the pressure quickly told.

Two double faults from the youngster and Murray broke, and held for 4-1 with barely a quarter of an hour played. Murray teased and tested through the sixth game, too, slotting a pass here, throwing in a drop there, and broke for 5-1. A love hold and he was a set up in under half an hour.

A quick break and a love hold, and Murray was cruising. He had a break point for 3-0, but Bublik held on. However, a seventh and eighth double fault from the Kazakhstan man and he was in trouble again in the fifth game—saved with a clutch of aces. The Centre Court was warming to this young, demonstrative player.

Thus far, Murray had made only five unforced errors, and two of those were double faults. Most impressively, he had won 20 points at the net, but the tall, slight Bublik was just about living with Murray. A window opened briefly as the Briton served for the set, and went down 0-40 courtesy of a bullet of a forehand winner from Bublik, but Murray edged the slickest of forehand passes for deuce and served it out in an hour and a quarter, 6-4.

As if Bublik was not contending with enough, some rain began to settle on the court, and the man playing at Wimbledon for the first time fell victim to the super-efficient ground staff who whipped the covers across the court to leave him stranded like an island and already a break down.

The players returned long enough for Murray to consolidate for 2-0 and then went off again. This time, it was heavy enough for a half-hour delay.

Back on court, and Bublik had the chance to level in the fourth game but netted a rash forehand on break point. He showed some real character in a love hold, 2-3, but he would not win another, as Murray broke again and served out the match, 6-2.

After the concerns about his fitness, how did he feel now? In his understated style, he said:

“I feel pretty good. Like I’ve said, I was feeling better each day. Getting on the match court, the intensity is a bit more, and the adrenaline can numb the pain a little bit too.”

But he could not resist a smile when asked about his young opponent.

“I don’t see that kind of character often: I was chatting to him in the rain delay, talking about the match, and the court. He’s a bit of a character, different from a lot of players. I think the crowd enjoyed the way he played.”

And judging from their ovation as Bublik left the court, this lucky loser will certainly be welcomed back. However, they loved how Murray played too. With 29 points won at net, and 29 winners to 10 errors, it was crowd-pleasing and varied tennis. All at once, indeed, Murray looks ready to take Wimbledon by the throat again.

Next up for the defending champion is the ever-popular Dustin Brown, whose game suits grass better than any other surface. Serve and volley, slice, angle, touch and more took him past Joao Sousa 3-6, 7-6, 6-4, 6-4, in a tidy two hours.

Perhaps surprisingly, the 32-year-old German has only met Murray once before—almost seven years ago—but never on grass. But he memorably beat Rafael Nadal here in the second round in 2015, and twice before, Brown has made the third round here. Murray will hope he does not make it three times.

In another interesting development in Murray’s section of the draw, his possible fourth-round opponent, No20 seed Nick Kyrgios—who like Murray has been carrying a hip injury—retired at two sets to love down against Pierre-Hugues Herbert.

This is, though, a tough little segment topped by Lucas Pouille but which also contains Benoit Paire, who came through a long four-setter, and the big and powerful Jerzy Janowicz, who also survived a four-set test against last year’s junior champion, Denis Shapovalov.